Going Deep
by Calcitrix
Summary: There's a traitor on the team, and Lady Jaye and Duke come up with a plan to find him. Complete w ch. 14.
1. Default Chapter

Joe headquarters

Most of the Joe team was relaxing in the rec room after a furious few weeks of fighting Cobra. They had struck time and time again, and it seemed like they had a wealth of information on the various military and political targets they chose. More than usual. It caused some raised eyebrows on the team, who wondered where Cobra was getting their information.

But for now, the threat was neutralized, and they could blow off some steam and regroup for the next emergency.

The TV was on and the stereo was blasting.

Shipwreck, Ace, Gung-Ho, and Barbecue were playing pool. Although an argument broke out every few minutes, they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Scarlett and Snake Eyes were talking shop, discussing the merits of various arms and their uses.

Dial Tone and Mainframe were playing a Star Trek Collectible Card Game, much to the amusement of Steeler and Breaker, who sat at a nearby table playing gin rummy. The pairs continually traded good-natured insults back and forth.

Most of the others were simply cashed out on couches and chairs, watching the History Channel or listening to the radio, or both.

Cover Girl and Lady Jaye shared one end of the couch, playing a game of their own invention. It was Lady Jaye's turn. "Okay, um, Richard Simmons or Danny DiVito?"

Cover Girl laughed. "Oh, ew. Gross. Okay, gotta be Danny. My turn. Hugh Grant or… Tim Allen?"

"Oh, definitely Tim Allen, at least he's got a brain. Hmmm…" She leaned closer and lowered her voice. "Leatherneck or Wetsuit?"

"Eeeeeeewwww, blech. Oh, crap. Wetsuit."

At this point Flint, who had been reading a book at the other end of the couch, looked up and asked, "What the heck?"

Lady Jaye explained, "The game is called 'Death Is Not an Option.' One player names two people. The other has to choose which one she'd rather have a romantic encounter with. She _has_ to pick one of the two, because, of course, death is not an option. You lose if you absolutely refuse to pick either one."

Flint looked at them strangely. "Okay, that's disturbing. And, might I add, kind of sick."

"No, kind of sick is the game called 'Make Me Puke,'" Cover Girl replied.

The Warrant Officer raised his eyebrows in question. "Do I even want to know?"

Cover Girl eagerly started to explain. "It's a similar idea, but there's not a real winner. Pick two people, and the other player has to imagine them romantically involved with each other. Er, very intimately, if you get my drift."

He looked at the girls and said, "That doesn't sound too bad."

Lady Jaye leaned forward with a smirk. "Duke and Martha Stewart."

Flint's eyes widened, and his head sunk into his hands. "Oh, get it out of my head…" he moaned.

The girls laughed and gave a high-five. "Okay, my turn," said Cover Girl. "Beach Head or Shipwreck?"

Lady Jaye stuck her tongue out at her friend. "You're horrible. Beach Head."

"Really?" Cover Girl asked incredulously. "Each to their own, I suppose…"

Duke interrupted them with a yell from the doorway. "Jaye! Office! Paperwork!" He disappeared again down the hallway.

Lady Jaye got up and stretched. "No rest for the wicked. We'll continue this later." She ruffled Flint's hair in passing and left the room.

She reached Duke's office a few minutes later and knocked, entering at his reply.

He looked up as she came in and nodded to a seat across from his desk.

She settled in to the chair and waited expectantly.

He sighed and looked up, regarding her for a moment. "I have an assignment for you, but I'm going to explain it before you tell me if you'll do it."

"You're giving me a choice?"

"I'm not supposed to, but… Yeah. I can't force you into one." He leaned back and closed his eyes. "It has become fairly obvious lately that Cobra has an inside source for information. Recent events have led me to believe that their source is on the Joe team."

"What?" she exclaimed. "Are you sure?"

"Not entirely. But certain enough that Hawk has asked me to do something about it."

"How do I come into this?"

He opened his eyes and met her gaze. "Hawk asked me to name one team member that I was absolutely certain of. I would have liked to name the entire team, but…" He shrugged. "I don't know anyone on this team who hates Cobra as much as you do. Your brother…"

She nodded. Her older brother had been a physicist working for the Department of Defense. An unknown terrorist organization had invaded their supposedly secret lab one night and taken the group of scientists hostage. The terrorists had proclaimed disgust at the weapons and defenses that were being developed by the DOD, and as part of their political statement had demanded the release of several prisoners. Some exchanges had taken place, but when a swat team tried to break into the building, the remaining scientists had been executed. Including her brother. No one but Duke and Hawk had access to that part of her files.

One of the prisoners that had been released was Major Bludd. Although he hadn't been directly involved with Cobra at the time, there was little doubt of the connection. The entire episode had been one of the major reasons Lady Jaye had applied to the Joe team.

"Okay, so you trust me. Why not involve Scarlett, or Snake Eyes, or Flint? Surely you trust them?"

"Of course I do. But Hawk asked for only one team member. See, the problem is, we're going to set you up. Over the next month, we are going to have to use every ounce of our acting abilities to convince the other Joes that you want off the team."

Her face went white.

"What we hope will happen is that, one, your behavior will be noticed by the real traitor, who will report it to Cobra and that, two, they will try to recruit you. Meanwhile, we will be checking every possible piece of evidence we can scrape together to find the real turncoat. We hope that he may even contact you himself during that time. But if not…"

Duke leaned over the desk. "If not, you're going to have to leave the team for real. Cobra seems to like working the 'disillusioned American' angle. If they don't contact you, you know where to find them. You'll need to get the information from Cobra themselves. If you are openly working with them, they may just have you work with the contact on the team. God forbid it get to the next step, but if need be you will have to get to their files, their computers."

He sat back. "This is going to take an enormous amount of planning, I know. But I think we can pull it off."

She sat, silent, mulling over the possibilities.

"One more thing," Duke said, "This remains absolutely confidential. No one else hears a word of it. You, me, Hawk. That's it." He caught the pained expression on her face. "What is it?"

"What about Flint?"

He sighed. "That's the main reason I'm giving you a choice about this. It's been, what—almost two months?" She nodded. "Not that I entirely approve, mind you, but… I knew that could cause some problems. It would hurt him, thinking that you were the traitor. I don't know if he could handle that. I wasn't sure if you could handle that. But you understand why I can't choose Scarlett or Snake Eyes for this? I'd rather have a pissed off Warrant Officer on my hands than a vigilante ninja, male or female. Flint can't do it—he couldn't pull it off. And when it comes down to it… Jaye, what if one of them _is_ the traitor? Everyone on this team has their own issues to deal with, their own weaknesses. Someone is giving information to Cobra, and I don't like to think it's_ anyone_ on the team. I've been driving myself crazy, analyzing everyone to pieces over the last few days."

Duke shook his head and ran a hand through his hair. "This is the best we could come up with. We've been working on this for months. We've gotten nowhere. It's time for some action."

Lady Jaye leaned back and closed her eyes. She could do it, she had the acting ability. But was she willing to do that to Flint? What if, in the end, he couldn't forgive her?

Duke knew what she was thinking. "Let me put it this way," he told her. "If this traitor gives Cobra enough information, they could find the base. They could find the Joes and their families. They could very well assassinate the entire team in their beds, including Flint."

"What if I say no?" she asked him.

"Then Hawk and I spend weeks coming up with another plan. No pressure." He gave her a wry smile. "You know what's at stake," he continued. "Think about it tonight. I'll call you in here tomorrow."

She rose slowly and walked out. She would think about it, but she already knew what her answer would be.

She was distracted the rest of the night. She tried not to let it show, but Flint commented on it several times. She finally just told him to chalk it up to hormones and leave it at that.

But later that night, lying in his arms, she found she was wide awake. She watched the slow rise and fall of Flint's chest, wondering if she could knowingly hurt him, even if it was for the greater good. She held him tightly and tried to fall asleep.

Duke called her into his office after breakfast the next morning. They sat in their respective chairs. Duke didn't speak, just sat and waited to hear Lady Jaye's decision.

She looked him in the eyes and said, "Okay. I'm in. How do we start? This is going to have to be believable."

He looked relieved. "I thought you would say yes, but—well. It's good to hear. Hawk is not going to be in on this. It's too dangerous to try to communicate with him on a regular basis. The only times we can talk about it will be in this office. I scan regularly for bugs, and whoever is on duty knows to inform me if anyone is lurking in the hallways outside."

Duke paused. "You know, we didn't plan the specifics. You need to have a very good reason to become disillusioned with the Joes. Any suggestions?"

"Well, since we can't involve anyone else, it's going to have to be you. How much of an asshole can you be?" She smiled to take the sting from her words.

"In order to catch a traitor? You have no idea. All I'd have to do is channel my anger a little bit."

They stayed in the office for over an hour, planning scenarios and working out contact information for when—if—she managed to infiltrate Cobra. It was certainly not going to be easy.


	2. Taking Steps

Over the next few days Lady Jaye was bogged down with paperwork. Step one. She didn't really mind, but since everyone else hated any kind of office work, she had the team's sympathy. She had very little time to spend with the rest of them in the rec room or on the practice fields. Only her nights were free, and she made the most of them.

By day three she was snapping at everyone for little things. They blew it off, knowing she was working hard while they were, for the most part, on break. Duke hounded her everywhere, interrupting whatever else she was doing, including eating. His call of "Jaye! Need you!" could be heard almost as soon as she sat down on a couch or chair.

Duke, meanwhile, was relaxing more often than usual. Lady Jaye really was doing all of his paperwork, and he felt guilty about it. On the other hand, she was doing all of his paperwork. Not his favorite job at any time, but he'd never foisted if off on anyone else before.

He had also nudged Beach Head a bit, telling the drill sergeant that Jaye needed a little extra work in PT sessions. Step two of the plan. Beach Head took the hint and ran with it. She was up at five, running through the obstacle course or on the track for two hours before breakfast, often by herself since none of the Joes were forced into PT unless they earned it. Sometimes Flint would join her, saying he might as well be awake with her if he couldn't be sleeping next to her.

His behavior made her feel all the worse about the whole situation. He listened to her gripe about the extra work, though she tried to keep it to a minimum with him, vocalizing her frustration with her teammates instead. Flint had even taken to grabbing a food tray for her if she didn't show up for a meal.

They fought off a Cobra attack at a political rally that week. The Joes who were sent managed to beat back the terrorist group, preventing the kidnapping of a senator who was a very vocal supporter of the GI Joe team. His speech was supposed to be a surprise, and it had been kept secret, only his aides and a few others knowing about it. Needless to say, by the time the battle was over, the audience had disappeared and the speech wasn't given.

Duke and Lady Jaye instituted step three on the sixth day. The team leaders and the intelligence officers were in a meeting, going over the possible targets Cobra might choose next. It was an early morning meeting; not that Lady Jaye got out of PT. She just had to get up earlier. After the meeting had been running for about fifteen minutes, Duke looked up mid-sentence and said, "Jaye, would you go make us some coffee?"

Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Flint, Breaker, and even Beach Head all swung their heads over to watch her reaction with wide eyes.

Lady Jaye scowled at Duke for a moment, then silently rose and left the room. Duke continued the meeting as if nothing had happened. She returned after about ten minutes with an insulated carafe and several cups on a tray. She poured and handed out the coffee to a quiet round of thanks from everyone but Duke. He simply took a sip, handed back his cup and said, "Sugar?"

Lady Jaye caught the glare Flint gave his commanding officer. She sighed. He was not going to take this well. She gave him a placating smile and added five spoonfuls of sugar to the cup, handing it back to Duke with a smirk.

He nearly gagged. "Ugh. I didn't mean an entire truckload of the stuff." He pushed his cup away and didn't touch it for the rest of the meeting.

Lady Jaye doodled on her notepad while Duke went over the possibility that Cobra might attack the nuclear waste disposal site in Mexican Hat, Utah. Although she was really paying attention, she did her best to act distracted and uninterested.

At one point, Flint reached over and wrote on her notepad, "Marlin Brando or Tom Wopat?"

She stared at the words for a moment, at a loss. Then she smiled, remembering the game she and Cover Girl had explained to him. Lady Jaye circled 'Marlin Brando,' then wrote underneath, "Barbara Bush or Madeleine Albright?"

He didn't look at her, but she could see him smile. His hand snaked over to circle 'Madeleine Albright' and to write "Strom Thurmond or Duke?" She nearly laughed out loud at that, carefully crossing out Duke's name and circling the other.

"Is there something funny you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"

Duke's voice snapped her back to the discussion. "No, sir," she responded sullenly. She could see his nostrils actually flaring as he returned to the subject at hand.

They continued like this for another three days. Flint tried to talk to her about it on several occasions; she could tell he was genuinely worried. She laughed it off, telling him that the sudden change in Cobra activity was to blame.

One evening, after a second session of PT for which she had missed dinner, he came into the office where she was at work.

"Hey, beautiful," he called, ducking into the room.

She looked up and smiled. "Hey yourself."

He stood behind her chair, rubbing her shoulders. She sighed and leaned back into him. "Oh, that feels good. I haven't even managed a shower yet today. My muscles are so knotted up I'm starting to lose the feeling in my toes."

Flint chuckled, leaning down to brush his lips against the back of her neck. "I could think of some other things that might do that."

She gasped as he began kissing her neck. He ran a tongue along the back of her ear and whispered, "Your hair has mud in it. Think you can stop for the night and maybe take a shower and go to bed?"

"Lady Jaye, is the paperwork for the—" Duke stopped as he came in the room. He gave Flint a hard stare. "She's supposed to be working," he said.

"Oh, come off it, Duke," Flint replied. "You've had her in this office for almost ten hours a day for the last week at least. Plus Beach Head has a bug up his butt and is working her at PT another two hours in the morning, and sometimes at night. Give her a break."

Duke simply stared back. Finally he said, "Jaye, finish up and leave the files on my desk, please." Then he turned and walked out the door.

She sighed, and reached back to put her arms around Flint. "Don't worry, honey. I'll be done soon. I'll come to your room in about a half an hour. Go relax."

He didn't want to let it drop. "You're working on the dispensary list. That isn't even vaguely your responsibility. What is wrong with him?"

"It needs to get done and I'm doing it. I'm fine. I'll see you soon."

He sighed and gave her a parting kiss. "Fine. But don't stay here too long. I'll wait up."

She watched him leave. The situation was already explosive, and they hadn't even moved on to step four yet. That was due to start tomorrow. She sighed. She'd deal with that when it came. She bent to finish the paperwork.

The next day they were due to have a long hand-to-hand combat training session with Quick Kick. Everyone was to attend, with Snake Eyes and Scarlett overseeing some of the practice groups.

Duke paired himself with Lady Jaye, of course. Step four: Open hostility.

The first hour went fairly smoothly, although Lady Jaye and Duke traded some borderline insults, and Flint was distracted trying to pay attention to what was going on between them. As a result Breaker scored more hits on him than usual, leaving some decent bruises behind.

Lady Jaye and Duke were throwing punches a little harder than necessary for the sake of practice. The counter defenses they were learning, mostly blocks and throws, were a lot more forceful than they needed to be, too. They were moving quickly, going through the movements almost twice as fast as the other groups.

They also kept up a constant banter. When Duke didn't get a block up fast enough, Lady Jaye quipped, "What's wrong? Getting too old for this?"

When Lady Jaye botched a throw, Duke told her, "Man, the greenest Cobra soldier could skewer you with his eyes closed." And those were two of the nicer things they threw back and forth, as their movements got even faster and more powerful.

After Quick Kick had demonstrated a relatively complicated throw, Duke leaned over to his partner and jeered, "Good luck with that one, babe."

Lady Jaye stiffened and shot him a piercing glare. She grabbed his shoulder, put her hip against his, and slammed him onto the mat.

There was a stunned silence. "Ah, thank you for that particularly volatile demonstration, Jaye," Quick Kick said. "Perhaps a little less force next time?"

She turned her glare on him for a moment, then stalked out of the gym.

Duke tried to catch his breath, managing to gasp out, "Ah, let her go. She just couldn't take being beaten by someone obviously bigger and stronger than her." Just saying it made him feel sick, but it had to be done. He didn't meet anyone's eyes as he rose from the mat.

He was prepared for the cold looks his teammates shot him, but it still hurt. The rest of the practice went by in almost complete silence.

They escalated hostilities over the next two days. Any time that Duke could get away with it—meaning that there were witnesses who would spread gossip but weren't likely to physically interfere—he insulted Lady Jaye, sent her on useless errands, and dressed her down for behavior the other Joes usually got away with. If she and another Joe were both involved, such as the minor food fight that erupted in the mess hall one night, Duke made sure to mete out punishment unfairly.

By the end of the second week she barely had five hours left in the day to sleep. She had KP duty and watch duty, and had various other tasks to finish in addition to the usual PT and paperwork. It was a strain, and at several points she wanted to give up the whole charade despite the consequences. But she gritted her teeth and went on. It was more important to ferret out the traitor than to sleep, or to relax, or even to spend a few minutes a day feeling like a human being instead of a workhorse. Usually a very tired, sore, and dirty workhorse.

Her saving grace was Flint. He often kept her company on watch, gave up sleep to run miles on the track with her, and even tried to do some of her punishment work for her, but she wouldn't let him. No matter what time she finally stumbled to bed, he would wake up and ease the pains of the day from her exhausted body.

The rest of the team was overly nice to her, too, feeling that her situation was unjust. But, while they could commiserate with her, the line of command was very clear, and they followed it.

Lady Jaye kept her eyes and ears open the whole time, listening for anyone who seemed to be overly zealous in backing her side of the argument. Unfortunately there were several teammates who, at one time or another, said something that made her suspicious. Shipwreck went on at great length about what an asshole Duke was being; Steeler ranted for almost half an hour in her office about the uselessness of fighting Cobra when their own system seemed almost as bad sometimes; even Beach Head gave her an earful while she was running the obstacle course, going on at length about the chain of command and what he would do if he were in charge.

It was all the usual whining, but she was hearing it differently now. What deeper feelings were buried under the superficial attitudes and opinions? Which one of her teammates had acted on those feelings, or had been bought out, or had caved in to the Cobra propaganda?

It was impossible to know. A hundred hours of paperwork, PT, and extra duties had so far produced nothing but headaches and a skewed view of her friends. The strain was showing, but at least everyone took it for righteous anger. The frustration of not being able to find a single clue to help the investigation fueled her, gave her the strength to run the extra miles and to climb out of bed in the morning despite feeling like she had just closed her eyes minutes before.


	3. Hostility

Lady Jaye and Duke continued to meet in his office, going over phone and computer logs, conversations, backgrounds, files, and even rumors about the members of the team. They were stuck. Nothing jumped, or even creeped, out at them.

Duke put his elbows on the desk and rested his forehead in his hands. "There must be something. Why don't we have a single unusual phone call, one strange log on the computer in the middle of the night?"

"You said this wasn't going to be easy. It's only been two weeks. Something will show up."

He sighed, shaking his head. "All that's showing up is weird things in my food and interesting additives to my morning coffee."

She looked up in surprise, and he let out a frustrated laugh. "You're a popular team member. I've had no fewer than twelve people in my office trying to tell me very politely that I should back off. Well, some not so politely. I can deal with the cut up underwear and the spiders, but I do feel like a complete heel every time I yell at you."

Lady Jaye laughed. "Someone put underwear and spiders in your food?"

He smiled in return. "The spider was in my coffee this morning. I think someone's trying to tell me something."

"And the underwear?"

He made a disgusted face. "My omelet."

"Ugh. Sorry."

"Don't worry about it. It's nothing compared to what you've been going through." He looked her over carefully. "Are you okay with this?"

She nodded. "It would be pointless to have suffered this last two weeks for nothing. What are we planning next?"

"Well, how far do you think we can push the language without having someone calling Hawk to come in and break it up?"

"Well, I've seen some pretty decent arguments between you and Beach Head, and Shipwreck, well, he's the king of mumbling derogatory statements under his breath. I think we can take this pretty far before anyone starts talking court marshal."

"I agree. Here's what we'll do…"

Their behavior over the few days had everyone walking on eggshells. They had managed two pretty convincing arguments, though neither had quite started yelling. That would be step six.

Beach Head had refused to put Lady Jaye in PT anymore, telling Duke that if he wanted his soldiers in shape, they should all be out there together. Duke had inwardly winced, but agreed, ordering early morning work outs for the entire team. Those few who hadn't been mad at him before were now hardly speaking to him.

For her part, Lady Jaye started doing the best she could to alienate the others. They had discussed it, and realized that Duke could play the bad guy only so far. She began to instigate some of their arguments, acting openly disrespectful to not only Duke, but Beach Head as well. Not that that was a stretch.

Flint was growing more concerned as the days went by, nearly tearing his hair out trying to get her to curb her hostile behavior. She merely refused to discuss it with him, telling him that everything would be fine. She took great pains to be as attentive to him as possible, though there were more awkward silences between them than ever.

She could generally divert his attention with a kiss and other things, but she didn't think it would work much longer. He was firmly on her side, and yet she was doing everything in her power to get Duke as riled as possible. Flint might not be very pleased with his CO right now, but he could see that she was making things worse.

Cobra attacked two top-secret military installations that week, with one success and one defeat. The Joes had stopped the Crimson Twins from stealing research into biodefense, but had not been able to stop Zartan walking out of a medical facility carrying the only known sample of an experimental virus. That had everyone worried, and most of the Joe team had been called into active status.

Various Joes were in and out of the base, some of them new to the situation between Duke and Lady Jaye, finding headquarters a different place than it usually was. Most of them simply used avoidance and denial to deal with it, although Lady Jaye suspected that she and Duke were the main topic of conversation when neither of them were in the room.

The yelling started the third week. They had budgeted four weeks altogether, but the lack of response had them stepping up the pace.

To Duke's request for yet another file dug out of a remote storage room, Lady Jaye screamed, "What am I these days? Your freaking secretary?" Duke had responded by putting her on all-night watch duty, and she stormed out of the room. The other Joes in the room tried their best to act nonchalant, but Duke could hear rebellious whispers from the corners.

Not all of them were aimed against him. Several team members had commented upon Jaye's open hostility, justified or not. Step six was in effect.

He nearly lost it for real two days later when she yelled that he was a power-hungry, sexually repressed excuse for a commanding officer. Duke had managed to take the insults in stride so far, knowing that she was only bluffing, but it made him wonder where she came up with them.

He felt his face go deadly calm. "Into my office--now." he ordered her, striding out of the room. They seemed to do that a lot these days, between the two of them.

He closed the door and motioned her to stay silent. He removed the small scanner from his desk drawer, checking for bugs as he put on a show for any would-be listeners.

"How dare you insult me to my face in front of my men? You have been treading the line of insubordination now for days! I have it in mind to have you transferred permanently to—" He completed the circuit of the room and continued in a normal voice, "Ok, room's clean."

They sat in their chairs and Duke made a quick call to the comm room to make sure the hallway was free of eavesdroppers.

"This isn't working," Lady Jaye began.

"Obviously. I take it no one has approached you to see if your… ah, disillusionment… might harbor any great need to talk to Cobra?"

She shook her head. "Not a peep. If the traitor is on base, he's playing it close. I know the possibility that he might approach me was remote, but I was hoping not to have to continue with this. It's not exactly doing great things for my image around here."

He smiled. "Tell me about it. By the way, Flint finally came into my office today."

She winced. "I wondered when that would happen. Well?"

"Let's just say he's very worried about you. And extremely pissed at me. If he had to choose between the team and you…"

Lady Jaye shook her head. "We have talked about our priorities, and we've agreed that the team comes first."

Duke laughed. "Yeah, well, if you'd seen him today, you'd wonder."

Lady Jaye put her head down on the table. "Oh, this just sucks. Please tell me you recorded a midnight conversation with Destro last night and all we have to do is identify the other speaker's voice…" Her tone was light, but she was thinking about Flint. If she left the team… Would he try to follow her? Was he really willing to risk his career over her? The idea that she was hurting him this much… the traitor had a lot to answer for, and it was starting to get personal.

"No such luck." Duke banged his fist on the table. "Damn it! I feel like I've been looking at everyone sideways since this whole thing started. I can't even have a normal conversation with anyone anymore."

"Well, we could move things up even more."

He considered the idea. "I don't know. We're relying on Cobra to recruit you once you leave. What if they haven't heard, or don't care, that we're at each others' throats? Can I leave you sitting at home for a month waiting for Major Bludd to knock on your door? How could I possibly keep Flint in check for that long?"

He saw her face and immediately regretted the last sentence. "I'm sorry. I know that this is hard on both of you. I trust Flint with my life, and I wish we could let him in on this… But it wasn't my decision to make. Hey," he continued, "you should be happy that the guy's this crazy about you. If need be, I can put him on surveillance duty for the next two months. It might not keep him busy, but it would keep him away."

Lady Jaye sighed. "Not yet. Please. Sometimes I think I would be a walking nut-job right now if it weren't for him."

Duke let out a chuckle. "Aw. That's so cute. I may be sexually repressed, but at least I can live vicariously through you two."

"Uh, sorry about that comment. I was running out of things to yell at you."

"Just out of curiosity," Duke asked, "Where do you come up with it all? I mean, 'gun-toting masochistic tyrant?' You don't harbor any real hidden resentment I hope?"

She laughed. "Not a bit. I just think about how sore I am, picture Beach Head standing in front of me, and let fly."

"Oh, so Beach Head is sexually repressed?"

"More like everything-repressed. He does anger really well, though."

"Speaking of which," he looked at the clock, "I would hate to make you late for evening PT."

Lady Jaye stuck her tongue out at him. "You owe me big time for this. I expect to be waited on hand-and-foot when this is over."

She rose to leave. "So are we on for step seven tomorrow?"

He sighed and shook his head. "Let's give it until the weekend. Keep it a little calmer until then, okay? I don't want Airtight to have to scrape my remains off the floor just yet."


	4. Dead Ends

Duke and Lady Jaye managed to avoid each other for the next few days. The team settled down into normal routines again, and she had even managed to spend quite a bit of time with Flint. They had had a minor argument about Duke; she could tell he was torn between his long-time friendship with the man and the behavior he had been exhibiting lately.

She had simply told him she was sick to death of arguing with anyone, Duke or otherwise, and Flint had changed the subject.

The start of week four meant the start of the final step in the plan.

Lady Jaye started "accidentally" misplacing paperwork, spilling drinks in Duke's lap, and sleeping through morning PT. This made Beach Head furious, and his tirade when he caught up to her later could be heard across the base. She finally told him to piss off and walked away, leaving the drill sergeant sputtering and speechless.

Duke had a hard time dealing with Beach Head over that. The man had stormed into his office and demanded a court marshal.

"I've talked to Hawk about it," Duke lied. "There are certain steps to take, as you well know. One or two incidents don't-"

"One or two? Duke, she's had it in for you for the past several weeks. I can't even count the number of times she's been insubordinate to you."

"Hawk knows about it. He's going to come down and see for himself next week. Until then, just try to keep from pinning her down and gagging her."

Beach Head stormed back out, muttering about what exactly he might do to her other than gag her. It made Duke wonder if the man really was repressed.

By the third day of the last week, Lady Jaye had been called into Duke's office five times. He was running out of punishments to give her; there just wasn't enough time in the day. She was even doing the dishes and cleaning up the rec room every night, a task that would make the strongest man feel faint, especially after movie night.

They held their meetings in between rounds of shouting at each other. Duke could no longer keep the hallways clear. Every time she walked into his office, there were at least three other people near the door at all times, trying to look like they had business there.

Her first outburst had actually made him jump. She had been going over the most recent computer logs. "Shipwreck tried to get around the firewall again to download some pictures of naked women. But that's not surprising. ONE MORE NIGHT OF WATCH DUTY!" She ended with a yell.

He looked stunned. "What was that?"

She looked a little sheepish, but explained, "If they don't hear the occasional raised voice, they'll get suspicious. But people rarely yell at the top of their lungs for an entire sentence. Just bits and pieces of it."

He tried not to laugh. "Oh. Like this? WATCH DUTY IS THE LEAST YOU'LL-"

"Right," she said with a smile. "Let 'em wonder what the rest of it is."

They continued to go over paperwork, one of them occasionally bellowing out a few words at top volume.

"Well," she said after a while. "Once again, nothing here. I'd better go. Any argument longer than this is going to have them really worried."

She calmly walked to the door, then jerked it open and stalked out.

Duke just barely remembered to put a furious expression on his face when Cover Girl walked in.

She sat in Jaye's vacated chair. "Um, Duke? What's going on? Do you want to talk about it? I've tried to talk to Lady Jaye, but she just blows it off. You two used to get along. Did something happen?"

"How did you get elected spokesperson?" He growled. "Nothing is wrong except that Lady Jaye's attitude is going to get her kicked off the team if she doesn't calm down."

"Well-- may I speak freely, sir?" He nodded, and she continued. "Don't take this the wrong way, but… She's been given a lot of extra work lately, and she has to go through PT twice a day to our once, and… Um, isn't it maybe just a little unfair?"

He had to give her credit for saying it. Most of the men wouldn't challenge him about anything he said or did, the notable exceptions being the last few weeks, of course. No one had visited his office for several days, though, not since the yelling had started.

Duke regarded her over steepled fingers. "I appreciate your concern, Cover Girl. But everyone on the team is expected to follow his or her orders. Even if they're unfair. Snake Eyes is always at the front of a battle because of his skills, and you don't see him complaining that it's unfair."

Cover Girl bit her lip. "But this is different. You're singling her out for more work than the others, and giving her more punishments, too. It's—you're not being very nice!"

Duke had to swallow a laugh. He scowled at her instead. "My job is not to be 'nice.' My job is to give orders and see that they're obeyed."

She sighed and stood. "Fine. But… Just talk to me if you need to, okay?"

He watched her leave, wondering if they could make it even the three days left until the month they had given themselves was up.

Lady Jaye was also aware that time was running short. She read her teammates' profiles, histories, and psychiatric evaluations until she knew them by heart. She poured over written reports, leave requests, and phone logs until they didn't even make sense any more. There was nothing there.

That night Lady Jaye lay next to Flint, trying to think of any files they might have missed. Flint noticed her distraction, and pulled her closer. "You okay?" he asked quietly.

She snuggled against his chest. "Yeah. Just frustrated." That was the truth, at least. The thought that she would be leaving him in just two days made her heart ache.

"Dash, you and Duke have been friends for a while, right?"

"Yes. You know that."

"Don't be mad at him," she whispered. "Whatever happens, just… don't forget how long you've been friends."

He leaned on an elbow and regarded her quizzically. "What aren't you telling me?"

She met his gaze for a moment, but couldn't hold it. "I… can't talk about it. There's more to this than stupid arguments, but… Just promise me you'll stick with the team if I get transferred, or…" she let the sentence hang.

He put a finger under her chin and raised her face up to meet his. His eyes were troubled and hurt. "Alison… The thought of you leaving makes me want to curl up in the corner. I started out on this team fighting for the ideals I believe in. But I'm fighting for more now. I'm fighting for us." He kissed her softly. "I know I can't ask you to let Duke walk all over you… but do you think maybe you could bend a little?"

She closed her eyes. "I've tried," she said. "It's just not in me. Believe me, I'm not keen on the idea of leaving. I…" she squeezed him tightly. "You make me deliriously happy. I'd miss you so much…" She put her head down on his shoulder. "I'm just so tired of all of this," she whispered.

He stroked her hair as her eyes closed with a sleepy sigh. "Whatever happens, Alison… I love you," he said quietly. But she was already asleep.


	5. Leaving

On the second to last day, the simmering resentment between Lady Jaye and Duke resulted in so many arguments that they hardly spoke in a normal tone of voice the entire day. It had long since boiled over into their relationships with the rest of the team. Lady Jaye wanted to be as nice as possible—it might be the last time she saw any of them for a while—but that would undermine the entire plan. Instead she shirked most of her punishment work, giving one last effort to find any clue to the identity of the traitor. She had read the files so many times that it was hard to pay attention enough to see them in a new way. It didn't help.

She blew off her evening PT as well, dragging Flint back to her room after dinner instead. He tried to tell her she was going to get in even more trouble, but she wouldn't listen, and truth be told, he wanted the time together as much as she did.

They ignored all knocks, phone calls, and other interruptions. They had been together often enough recently, but only at odd hours and usually when Lady Jaye was exhausted. Tonight they took their time and forgot about anything on the other side of the door. Lady Jaye was attentive and fiercely passionate, knowing that she would be leaving the team, and Flint, the next day. He responded in kind, and they spent the night in blissful ignorance of the world around them.

Lady Jaye didn't want to get out of bed the next morning, but she knew that her job was only half done. What waited ahead of her was more important than what she wanted for herself. Sacrifice was a big part of the entire team's lives, and they had all accepted that when they signed up.

This was the day she was supposed to leave the team. She and Duke hadn't planned it out in great detail. They knew that they had to have the mother of all arguments, something that crossed the line more than anything they'd done to date. It needed to be a reason for her to leave the team.

The first half of the day, they managed to mostly avoid each other, waiting for lunch until stepping into the real action. Lady Jaye started it by "tripping" while she was walking from the counter to a table; the entire contents of her food tray coated Duke from head to foot. Instead of apologizing, she burst out laughing. It was the only sound that could be heard in the entire cafeteria as everyone else held their breath.

Duke calmly stood up and took a step forward. He grabbed Lady Jaye's arm and dragged her toward the doors. She pulled free and stalked ahead of him, saying, "Yeah, yeah, I know—your office, NOW!"

They made it there without speaking, aware that there was a crowd slowly gathering behind them, following along. Duke cast them a glare as they entered the office, but he knew there was no way they would disperse short of very dire threats, and he wanted a few witnesses, anyway.

They started shouting immediately, making sure that everyone in the hallway could hear them—if only indistinctly through the door—and despite the seriousness of the situation, it was all they could do not to burst into laughter. Duke was liberally coated with pasta and tomato sauce, salad, and Jell-o. She tried to pick some of it off as she responded to his shouts of accusation, but ended up only making it worse. Finally, as Duke was screaming about her lack of respect for authority, he scooped a glob of tomato sauce off of his shirt and smeared it across her cheek.

Lady Jaye's eyes widened, but she simply continued her tirade about his overbearing personality, pulled off a large glob of green Jell-o, and smeared it into his hair. He choked and coughed for a moment, recovering his composure well enough to begin a rant on her sloppy discipline and to place several strands of pasta on her head.

By the time they had been yelling at each other for ten minutes, both of them looked like they had been participants in some kind of mad science food experiment gone wrong.

Lady Jaye bit her lips hard to keep from giving the game away. It would not do to have the Joes in the hallway hear her laughing. At moments like this, when frustration and the stress of the situation had finally pushed her near to the edge, it was easy to fall into hysterics; she could tell that Duke was in the same boat. The absurdity of the situation was just too much to bear.

They finally stopped the yelling to take a breather. They avoided the chairs to save the upholstery, and spoke in quiet voices.

"Well," Duke started. "Final step. I actually thought it might not ever get this far. Unfortunately, that means I avoided thinking about what I might do as the last straw that drives you off the team."

She looked over at him; he was still swallowing back laughter, covered in food, and looking less like her upright CO than ever. "You're going to have to hit me," she told him, wiping some of the food from her shirt.

His face turned serious. "Are you sure? I don't know that I could even do it…"

Duke thought about it for a minute, while Lady Jaye put in a few good, loud comments about his leadership abilities.

Finally he nodded. "Yeah. I can't think of anything else that would work."

She gave him a stern glare. "You need to make it convincing. Don't pull the punch."

He nodded again, and gave her a long look. "You have all of the contact information. You're on your own for this from here on out. Contact me only if you don't hear from Cobra in two weeks, and we'll discuss going to them. Once you're in, though—assuming things go as we want them to—don't take too many chances. If the shit hits the fan, get yourself out of there. Understand?"

"We planned this as much as we could, Duke. I'll be fine."

Her CO, for the first time in her life, grabbed her in a strong embrace. "Be careful. If something happens to you, Flint will kill me."

She gave a small chuckle. "Oh, yeah, 'cause he's gonna be so happy with you anyway."

Lady Jaye took a deep breath and turned to the door. "Ready?" she called over her shoulder.

"Whenever you are."

Lady Jaye swung the door open and stepped into the hall. Several of her teammates were waiting a few feet away. Her stomach lurched when she saw Flint among them.

Duke grabbed her roughly by the shoulder. "Don't you dare walk out on me! This is not finished!" he yelled.

She swung around to face him, eyes narrowed to slits. "This has been over for a good long while," she hissed. "It just took me too long to realize that my commanding officer is an overbearing government puppet who can't even get his head out of his ass long enough to-"

She saw him tense, jaw clenching, saw him draw a breath in preparation. She did her best not to flinch as the blow came. Duke backhanded her across the jaw, snapping her head back and sending her sprawling to the floor.

The other Joes let out a collective gasp. No one moved a muscle.

Lady Jaye stared up at Duke, slowly wiping the blood off her lip. She stood shakily, then turned slowly away and pushed through the crowd. Flint cast a menacing look at his CO, but followed Lady Jaye down the hall. Duke walked back into his office and slammed the door with a resounding bang.

Fint caught up to her just outside her quarters. He followed her in and shut the door, watching as she grabbed a duffel bag and began to stuff it with clothing.

"Alison…" the tremor in his voice made her close her eyes and try to catch her breath. She didn't have to force the few tears that threatened to fall.

She turned to face him. This was the moment she had been dreading for a month. "Dash, I…" She couldn't think of anything to say.

He simply opened his arms, and she collapsed into him, shaking. He stroked her hair, holding her as she silently wept for the loss of everything in her life that held any meaning.

Finally she stood back and met his gaze. "Dash… you know I have to leave. Promise me you won't take it out on Duke."

His jaw dropped. "Not take it out on—Alison, that man hit you! He can't get away with that!"

She held his eyes. "Promise me. You know this team would fall apart without him. We may hate each other, but… The Joes need him. You need him."

He stared at her incredulously. "You're not going to pursue this? If you leave you'll be considered AWOL. You'll take the fall. You might even get thrown in jail. You can't just give it all up…"

Lady Jaye knew that he wasn't just talking about the team. He was talking about himself. She wrapped her arms around him. "Dash, you mean so much to me. I—" she couldn't say it. She couldn't tell this man she loved him, knowing that soon enough he would think her a traitor. The hurt would be bad enough as it was. "I'll deal with things as they come. I just can't stay here. The best thing you can do for me is to stick with the team. Knowing you're here will keep me going. Please?"

He nodded slowly. "I'll give it some thought. I'm not sure I want to be on a team whose leader thinks he can use his fists to enforce discipline." He leaned down and gently kissed her swollen lips. "Will you go home?"

She shook her head. "Not yet. I need some time to think. I guess I'll find a room somewhere and hunker down. I'll call you and let you know where I am. Pass it on if you can—I think someone up top may want to talk to me soon, and I don't want them to think I'm on the run. But if I stay here… Well, I think it's just best if I didn't."

Lady Jaye hated to think that she was using him in any way, but she needed Cobra to be able to find her. She certainly wouldn't go home and expose herself there. Flint would see that the other Joes knew where she ended up, including, she hoped, the traitor.

Flint squeezed her tightly and held on for several minutes, not saying anything, unable to let go. "I'll come see you as soon as I can and let you know what's going on. I'm still not sure leaving is a good idea, but—I'll back you in this in any way I can."

"Thank you. That means a lot to me. So has your support over the last few weeks. But, please, remember what I said. Duke is too important to this team, and you are too important to me to see you throw everything away on this."

"Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it," he whispered. "My career means a lot to me, but if it means losing you to stay on the team… what kind of life is that?"

"The life you're meant to live," she told him. "Neither of us would be happy if you quit the Joes, you know that. Besides, we don't know what will happen. Maybe it will all turn out for the best."

"Somehow I doubt it," he responded. "Call me tonight. If I don't hear from you, I'll come looking, so don't think you can ditch out on me."

"I wouldn't even try."

She finished packing her bag in silence. She was ready to leave.


	6. Propositions

Several of the Joes spoke to her on the way out. They knew that she was leaving, and they were aware of the consequences, but they knew better than to try to make her stay. She did her best to act the tough, cold-hearted soldier, waving away their indignation and anger as though the whole situation didn't mean much to her anyway—but her friends' regard for her, what they were willing to do for her, made her heart feel as though it was being squeezed in a giant fist.

They would all think she had betrayed them; that they meant so much less to her than was the case. And yet she couldn't tell them that, couldn't tell them that the time she had spent with them in and out of battle had been the best times of her life. The other Joes sensed her turmoil, and after a few final farewells, drifted off one by one.

By the time she reached her personal vehicle, parked in the corner of the garage, only Flint, Scarlett, Cover Girl, and Ripcord remained. They all watched quietly as she took the tarp off her car and placed her duffel bag in the back seat.

There was an awkward silence until Cover Girl finally stepped forward to give her a hug. "If you need anything, let us know," she told her.

Scarlett and Ripcord nodded, each embracing her in turn before stepping back. The two girls pulled Ripcord away to give Flint a last few minutes alone with her.

"I'd come with you, you know," he said quietly.

"I know," she replied, stepping into his embrace. "But I can't let you. I know what this team means to you. More than it ever meant to me, I guess."

"You think that now because you're angry. But I'll bet that two days from now you're going to be wondering how even Duke could drive you away from it." He made an effort at his trademark grin, but it was forced. "Call me tonight. Let me know you're okay."

All she could do was nod. Her throat felt too tight to speak. But she managed a whispered farewell, and added, "Whatever happens next, promise me you'll remember all of the good times instead of the last few weeks. Don't do anything to get yourself in trouble, okay?"

He gave her a final squeeze and bent down to kiss her. It was all she could do to pull away from him and get in her car. She watched in the rear-view mirror as the closest friends she had in the world disappeared from view, perhaps forever.

She left the compound with no difficulties; Duke should have ordered the greenshirt at the gate to stop her if she tried to leave, but if she was to be accessible to Cobra, she had to be off base. She hoped the other Joes wouldn't give him too hard a time over her departure, but they had both known the likely outcome of their game from the start, and were prepared to deal with the consequences.

She drove southwest, stopping for a meal along the way since her lunch had ended up decorating Duke instead of in her stomach. She figured on driving to Las Vegas; there was a suspected Cobra base somewhere nearby, and Extensive Enterprises had an office there. It was close enough to make it by late that night, but far enough from the base not to endanger its location.

Lady Jaye spent the time analyzing the information she had spent so long studying. Why would a traitor help Cobra by giving out locations of other military installations but not the Joe base? Why not just give the entire list of Joe members and their home addresses to Cobra? It must be someone who agreed with Cobra's objective, but refused to be the means of the Team's destruction.

She herself was loaded with false information for Cobra, data that seemed important but was out of date. Locations of bases that had recently been shut down, decryption programs that would seem to work but send up red flags whenever used, and even the location of a few Joe safehouses that were deemed expendable. She hoped it would be enough to gain the confidence of her enemies. If they doubted her for a moment, it could mean not only the failure of her mission, but also the loss of her life.

She reached the city at one a.m. Everything was in full swing, but she had no problems finding a room in one of the seedier areas, which was basically everything not located on the main strip. Funny how one block in either direction looked like a war zone compared to the glitz and shine of the main drag. She hated the town, and hoped that she didn't have to spend an entire two weeks there.

When she had settled in, she called Flint as promised, giving him her hotel information and reinforcing her instructions that he not endanger his position on the team. Although she and Duke had the full go-ahead to do pretty much anything to accomplish this mission, and the situation would be taken into account as far as the rest of the team's reaction was concerned, she feared that Flint would cross the line and truly jeopardize his career. He promised to behave and wait things out, but told her that he could only hold out so long. She could only hope that Cobra would move in on her quickly enough to pull Duke and Flint, and the rest of the team, back together. Even if it meant that they were united against her.

Lady Jaye spent the following morning catching up on sleep, luxuriating in the fact that she no longer had to rise at five a.m. for PT. She wandered around after lunch, not really doing much of anything, knowing that it was too soon to expect any contact but not interested in the sightseeing or casinos.

The evening she spent at a small, dingy bar that looked like a recruitment center for the Dreaknoks. She put her game face on, scaring away would-be suitors with a glare and sometimes a few well-chosen words. Despite the crowd, no one gave her a very hard time, possibly because the amount of alcohol she consumed made it clear that she was there only for the inanimate companionship of a glass and the distanced conversation of the bartender. By the time she left she was feeling distinctly ill, but had accomplished what she had intended: the customers would all remember the hard-drinking sullen woman who had spent four hours tossing back whiskey like she was trying very hard to forget her past.

Of course she paid for it in the morning, but repeated her rounds of the previous day nonetheless, feeling shabby and thick tongued.

It took four days of wandering the streets during the day and sitting at the same bar at night to realize any results. It was getting fairly late, and she was thinking about getting up to weave her way back to her hotel when two men sat on either side of her at the bar. She looked up groggily and squinted into the face of Tomax on one side and Xamot on the other.

"The Hell do you want?" she slurred at one of them, unable to distinguish them in her daze.

"We've heard on the grapevine that you've left the Joes under rather difficult circumstances," said one.

She swung her head around as the other continued, "We came to offer our condolences…"

"And our services." the first finished.

"Stop talking like that," she told the one on her right. "You're making me nauseated. I'm in no mood. Tell me what you want or leave." She slugged back the last of the liquor in her glass and ordered another.

"We're here to offer you an opportunity to get back at your CO. He has ruined your life," he answered, "and we are certain that you might desire a little… revenge."

"Bah. The kind of revenge Cobra offers gets me nothing but deeper into the shithouse."

The other twin replied, "Do you know that there has been an investigation into what happened, and that Duke appears to be getting off scott-free?"

She _had_ known, in fact, having talked to Flint earlier that day. But she scowled and remained silent.

"You're going to be court-marshaled, and that arrogant man in charge of the Joes is probably going to get another promotion. I suppose you could stay here and drink until they come to pick you up…" One of them started.

"But consider an alternative." the other continued. "Cobra can give you all of the protection you need from your government, and give you the chance to pay Duke back in spades."

She shook her head, causing the scene to blur uncomfortably, and told them, "I won't hurt the rest of the team. They're still my friends."

"And yet here you are, while they remain untouched and untarnished. Your friends didn't help you much." the one on the right said.

"Why don't you meet with someone to discuss the possibilities. If you remain unconvinced, we will bring you back here," he gestured with disgust at their surroundings, "and not bother you again."

She sat silent a moment, sipping at her glass. "I don't know how you could do anything to hurt Duke and not the others," she said.

"Why don't you come with us and find out?"

"Shit," she muttered. "Can't get in much more trouble, can I?"

She tried to stand and nearly fell over. The twins each grabbed an arm to steady her as they led her to the car waiting at the curb.


	7. In the Lion's Den

I promise to move faster on this one now that the Holiday is over.

* * *

Lady Jaye awoke in the morning with a suddenness that had her nearly jumping out of the bed. She looked around in confusion, taking a minute to recognize her surroundings. Memories from the previous evening came flooding back as her mind cleared from sleep. She was in a small private room off of the main barracks in the Cobra base.

She stood up and winced as a shot of pain hit her in the head. Her mouth felt cottony and still tasted like whiskey. She rubbed her eyes and headed for the small but functional bathroom nearby. A shower made her feel somewhat better, but her head still ached and her personal bag was back at the hotel.

A knock at the door stopped her rummaging through the bureau drawers, and she pulled on the worn terry cloth robe that had been hanging in the bathroom. She cracked the door and peeked her head out. A young female Cobra soldier stood there with a bundle in her hands.

Lady Jaye opened the door to let her in. The woman looked terrified of her, but managed to stammer the obviously rehearsed lines, "Welcome to Cobra. I have a uniform for you. Major Bludd would like to see you upstairs as soon as possible. I will wait outside in the hallway while you change, and then take you to him." She backed out quickly and shut the door.

The uniform looked like it would fit. She had worn Cobra uniforms before as a disguise, but they had always been overly large and tended to smell like their former occupants. This one was tailored to fit a woman of about her size, and unlike the usual blue or red colors, it was entirely black. A large red Cobra emblem blazed across the front.

She stared at it a moment, wondering how she had ever gotten to the point that she would be donning a Cobra outfit as a uniform rather than as a disguise. She took a deep breath and began to dress.

It was fortunate that Major Bludd had been the one to interview her the night before. Lady Jaye had been worried that Destro or one of the more introspective leaders might be present. Destro understood loyalty and honor, even if he stood on the wrong side; she thought he might find her story a little too pat to be believable. Bludd, on the other hand, seemed to automatically believe the worst of people. That she had defected to the enemy because her commanding officer had acted like a jerk didn't make him suspicious at all. Of course, he was used to Cobra Commander, and the man's own mother would probably hand him in if she got the chance.

_Glad they judge me by their own examples_, she thought to herself. _Now if I can continue to pull this off, I'll be just fine…_ She stepped into the hallway and followed the other soldier, who kept glancing back nervously over her shoulder as she led the way to Major Bludd.

The man had a small office on the main floor of the base. It was dingy, poorly lit, and lacked windows, decorations, and anything cheerful. Lady Jaye's escort hurried away as Bludd gestured at her to take a seat.

He stared at her a moment, a wide grin slowly spreading across his face. "Welcome to the right team, at last, my dear." She scowled back, not responding. He continued, "I thought I might take you on a tour to see the base, and then introduce you to our communications team. I'm sure they'll be interested to know a little more about the Joe Team's set up."

She slouched in her chair and said, "I thought you were supposed to tell me what Cobra is planning to do to Duke."

Major Bludd chuckled. "As I said last night, we have a perfect idea. All we need is some assistance with the execution… no pun intended."

Lady Jaye felt a chill run down her spine. "So are you gonna tell me or what?" she asked.

He shook his head. "Not yet. I'll let the comm. Team fill you in later." He rose and gestured for her to follow.

Major Bludd showed her most of the major areas in the Cobra base, and she was relieved to be able to stop for a few moments for coffee and breakfast, despite the company. Bludd seemed to be in charge of the entire operation; the Crimson Twins had returned to their own Extensive Enterprises office last night, and she had not seen a trace of the other Cobra officers or the Commander himself, and that was fine by her. It would make her job that much easier if she never saw any of them.

The finally ended up in a good-sized computer room in the center of the building. A main bank of terminals ran across the middle of the room, and larger screens covered the back wall.

Lady Jaye had been keeping track of the cameras positioned everywhere they went. The fact that they were in every room would make her task extremely difficult, but the hallways were unmonitored, which would be a big help. The computer room had three cameras; two in opposite corners, and one trained on the entrance. The cameras fed to this room; the screens on the back wall showed shifting scenes from each of the places they had visited that morning.

She watched them for a few minutes as Bludd spoke with the Cobra personnel at the various terminals. After the screens had run through their rounds twice, she knew exactly where she could walk in each room and not be seen, and where she could duck behind equipment to work unnoticed. She filed away the information for later.

Bludd motioned her over to the group. He introduced her to the technicians and told them to get whatever information they needed from her. He walked to a corner of the room and sat, watching the proceedings.

One of the men took a list from the table and glanced at its contents. He appeared to be a senior member of the Cobras who were present, but their chain of command was always in flux, and it was hard to tell what rank he might hold. He sat in front of the nearest computer and brought up a map of the United States.

Pointing out the various small marks scattered across the continent, he asked her, "It would help to start if you could confirm the locations of theses military bases and safehouses for us."

She took a seat next to him, and leaned forward. "What do you think I do for the army? I don't know the locations of every top-secret base in the United States. I know the locations of a few of the Joe safehouses, our own bases, and that's it."

He looked at her skeptically. "So where's the main Joe base?"

She laughed. "No deal. I'm not giving away any information that could compromise my friends or my family."

The soldier shrugged. "Fine. Give us the safehouse locations, then."

Lady Jaye simply sat with her mouth closed. Bludd called over, "She's supposed to help with the V2 plan for now. She'll be willing to trade more information after we complete it."

The man nodded. "Right. Then what we need are some passcodes. Specifically, the infirmary and Duke's office at the Pitt."

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, if you don't know where the Pitt is, how could that possibly help?"

"We have a…third party willing to work with us, don't worry. But he can't get into the areas he needs to."

_Man is this guy dumb_, Lady Jaye thought_. He's just confirmed for me that the traitor is on base, that it's not one of the team leaders, and that it's a man._

"A third party? You're kidding. No one can get on base without some pretty serious clearance. He'd need the front gate and main hall passcodes, too, if not others. Who is he?"

The man cleared his throat, realizing he was saying too much, and as she had hoped, went too far in the other direction to try to compensate. "He can get on base, don't worry. He's not there right now, of course. But he has very high ranking connections. He could get the other codes, but doesn't want to draw too much attention to himself."

Lady Jaye knew that the man would have invented a lie that was pretty much the opposite of what was true. So, the man was on base, was fairly low on the totem pole, and had no access to the higher clearance passcodes. That narrowed it down, but not enough.

She sighed. "I can give you the codes, but I guarantee they've changed them since I left. It's standard protocol when someone goes AWOL. They change every three weeks, anyway. It was nearly time just before I left."

Turning to the computer screen, the man brought up a computer program, and hit a few buttons. To her surprise, the main Joe database came up, although it was only partly readable. Most of the words and links were a scrambled mess. "Then can you provide access to the system?"

She narrowed her eyes at him. "And give you access to everyone's personal files? No way."

"Fine. Can you get to the new passcodes on here if we let you work on the computer by yourself?"

"Only if you don't log the keystrokes and keep this computer off of the network. You let me erase my work when I'm done, too. And no one watches me, including on the cameras."

He turned to Bludd, who nodded. She watched carefully as the man did as she instructed, making sure he didn't try any tricks. It seemed safe enough; he explained how the terminal could be isolated from the rest of the system, a trick they often needed to use when working with government files so that hidden bug bombs and other traps wouldn't spread over the network if they were sprung.

Bludd and the others sat on the opposite side of the room, leaving her with the computer. She checked a few other settings, confident that her actions would be untraceable later. She silently applauded the stupidity of Cobra in general, and set out to contact Duke. She sent him a message appraising him of the situation, and told him that she remembered the special codes the leaders had come up with over a year ago for just such an emergency. They had invented codes that would work in every area of the base, opening any barricade or office door, and would also send a silent alarm to the comm. Room and to whichever CO was on duty. She was glad now that they had thought of it, though the original intent was for use in an attack on the base if one of them was being held by Cobra as a way for a hostage to spread the alarm without warning the attackers.

Lady Jaye pretended to work for a while longer, finally typing the codes out on a text file and putting them on disk. She carefully erased all traces of her work, ejected the disk, and rose from her seat.

Handing the disk to Bludd, she said, "They erased all of my clearance. Fortunately for us, Duke doesn't know that I have his personal passwords."

He smiled and gave the disk to one of the men. "See that this reaches our contact." He turned to Lady Jaye. "I think this is going to work out wonderfully. Any thoughts on how you would like to occupy your time from here on out?"

She didn't like the lecherous gleam in his eye. "I thought that I would leave when we were done with this. How long until we see some results and I can get out of here?"

He took her arm to walk her from the room. "Come, now. Don't you want a more permanent position with Cobra? I thought that you might like to help train some of our troops over the next week or so. We may need your help again, and I would hate to fail because you departed so quickly."

Lady Jaye shuddered inwardly, but gave him a small smile. "I suppose I could keep busy while I'm waiting. Don't start designing a special uniform for me yet, though. I'm not exactly interested in the career move. I hear Cobra has terrible benefits."

Bludd laughed. "Perhaps spending some time here will change your mind. May I show you to your new quarters? I thought that something bigger would be more appropriate." He opened a door to a hallway she hadn't visited yet, and gestured for her to enter. She walked through, feeling his eyes on her the whole time.


	8. The First FaceOff

Slight editing glitch fixed-- didn't notice that I'd erased an entire sentence. That's what happens when you write instead of sleep!

* * *

Lady Jaye spent the rest of the day observing the various activities Cobra troops engaged in when not in battle. She quickly mapped the base in her head as she walked from area to area, though there were places that were off limits to her, like Zartan's lab. She was surprised to find out that he was there. Apparently he kept to himself while at that particular base, and for once, he was without the Dreadnoks.

The routine was somewhat similar to that of the Joes'. Weapons and combat practice, meetings, and specialist training seemed to take up a good chunk of the day. She noticed that the troops tended to be sloppy and the instructors lacking in discipline. Not that it surprised her. There was a good reason that the Joe Team consistently defeated Cobra. Unfortunately, she was due to start helping with the training the following day. She didn't want to help her enemies, yet she was sure that Bludd would be watching to make sure that her efforts were sincere.

She finally was able to eat a tasteless dinner and retire to her new quarters for the evening. It was not much better than her temporary room had been, but at least the door locked. She lay on the bed, not ready to sleep, but there was nothing with which to occupy her time. Her thoughts turned again to the puzzle she had been working on for so long. She had a little more information than before, although the list of suspects was still significant. She admitted to herself how relieved she had been to find out that whoever the traitor was, it couldn't be anyone above her in rank. Those team members all had passcodes to the infirmary, taking them off the suspect list. Certainly Bludd wouldn't have asked her for it if they didn't need it.

_But why do they need the code anyway?_ She wondered. It was no use. She was no closer to an answer after an hour's thought, and she was finally getting tired. She changed into her blue and red sleepwear and turned off the light.

As she started to drift toward sleep, she allowed herself to think about Flint for the first time all day. Even if the team wasn't yet aware of her present location, the fact that she hadn't called him tonight would worry him. She hoped that Duke could keep him from leaving the base to look for her. Her heart ached as she thought of the trials ahead and how he would react to them. She hoped that Duke would let some of the others know about the operation now that they were no longer likely suspects. Until they were sure, though, he probably wouldn't. She pictured his concern turning to anger as her betrayal became common knowledge. _There is nothing I can do about it_, she told herself. _Go to sleep_. But now that her thoughts had taken that direction, sleep was a long time coming.

Her second full day on base was terrible. She had to deal with the commonest Cobra soldiers, and the half of them who didn't hate her because she had been a Joe hated her because she was a woman. Using Beach Head as a role model, she yelled, coerced, and sometimes beat the soldiers into obedience. Major Bludd actually applauded when she broke one man's nose. She hadn't—quite—meant to, but it seemed to do the trick. Most of the men were faster to listen to her orders after that. They were still lazy and argumentative, but at least she could finish a sentence without one of them interrupting with a derogatory comment.

By midday she was exhausted, and she began to commiserate with her own team's drill sergeant. She had often tried to rile Beach Head just for the fun of it, and now that she was on the receiving end it gave her insight into the amazing amount of patience the man must have.

Weapons practice began after lunch, and the only surprise was the appearance of Zartan. He had finally come out of hiding to see the newest Cobra member at work. He didn't speak to her once, simply watched her browbeat the soldiers for a while, then left.

The evening was spent with the Cobra technicians again, and she reluctantly gave them some tidbits from her supply of false information. They were pleased to receive what they thought of as valuable data, filing it away on the Cobra information network.

Lady Jaye didn't get much more useful information from them, though. Apparently they had been told to guard their tongues, and they refused to speak about the 'third party' contact who would carry out their plan. And although she had been promised details of the attack on Duke, her questions about it likewise went unanswered.

By the fourth day her routine was down, though she wished she would be given more free time. She had had no opportunity to snoop or to be left alone with a computer again. Major Bludd had stopped following her around, but was likely to show up at odd times of the day to check up on her.

She and Zartan had definitely not hit it off. The man continued to observe her at training, and had begun to put in comments of his own about her abilities. She finally turned to him one afternoon and said, "Fine. Why don't you come over here and I can prove to you that Joes are better at hand-to-hand combat than any Cobra soldier."

He smiled and stood, stretching languidly before replying. "It would be my pleasure to embarrass you in front of the troops." Some of the men made rude comments and catcalls, and it finally hit her what the problem was. Zartan must usually be in charge of the training, and she had usurped his place.

So be it. She could at least get the message across that she was as capable as he was, if not more.

They squared off on the center mat, a ring of Cobra troops surrounding them five deep. Since Lady Jaye had joined the Joe Team, she had had hundreds of hours of training with Beach Head, Quick Kick, Snakes Eyes, and Flint. She could hold her own against her teammates for the most part, unless it came down to a show of brute strength. That being the case, she had learned to make sure it rarely did. Being smaller and faster had its advantages.

She figured Zartan to be a brawler. His punches would likely be hard and lacking in elegance. She thought of what it was like to face off against Shipwreck or Gung-Ho—who tended to forget all martial arts training in a practice match—and made herself ready.

She saw him tense, and was already moving aside as his first blow came. It missed her by mere centimeters, and she threw a counter-punch. He twisted away and it glanced off of his back. They circled, occasionally feinting or trying to land a blow, but for several minutes rarely made contact. She could tell he was frustrated every time she ducked out of reach. He was probably used to fighting men who would rather take a punch than block one; she'd seen men before who had simply stood and pummeled each other until one of them fell over.

She aimed a kick at his midsection, and he managed to move out of the main force of the blow, but it still knocked the wind out of him. She stepped in quickly sideways and bent her knee to her chest, kicking down hard on his leg. He fell hard on his knee, but managed to bring up his fist fast enough to punch her in the stomach. She gasped but stepped away, blocking the second hand that aimed for her face.

They stepped up the pace, throwing punches more frequently, though Lady Jaye concentrated on her own kickboxing training, realizing that Zartan had little experience with that fighting style. She hit his legs and midsection a few more times before taking a hard punch to the jaw in the same place that Duke had hit her. The bruise from that incident had faded, but the blow made her lightheaded nonetheless. Zartan scored two more punches on her torso while she was shaking her head to clear it.

The third strike would have landed hard on the side of her head had she not crouched down, kicking upwards, foot hitting Zartan's collarbone solidly. He staggered back, and Lady Jaye stepped forward to press the attack, but Major Bludd's voice stopped her in her tracks.

"What is going on?" he demanded.

Zartan straightened as the troops spun around to face Bludd. "Just a little friendly competition," he answered. "The men wanted to see if she was really up to the task."

Bludd looked at Zartan's bloody lip and pained posture, and replied, "I take it she made a point… or did you let her beat you up?"

Zartan shot him a furious scowl, trying to rub his shoulder surreptitiously. "Check her for bruises if you'd like to see how well she did." A few of the soldiers spoke up in Zartan's defense, but most of them seemed to think it was a fairly even match. The single female trooper who had given Lady Jaye the uniform on the first day shot her a guarded smile, though.

Zartan stormed out, and the rest of the practice went fairly smoothly. She had earned some respect, even if it was the respect of Cobra ground troops.

In the computer lab that night, she listened to the talk among the computer techs, who seemed to think that the show earlier that day earned her the right to be a part of their little group. They explained how the next Cobra attack was going to work—another military lab was due to be raided that week. She gave her opinions on its chance of success, but told them that small teams of Joes had been stationed at the most likely targets, and that particular base might be considered one. It wasn't true, but she hoped that if she managed to warn Duke in time, Cobra would think that the Joes had been there as a preemptive defense rather than because of an information leak. She was playing a dangerous game, trying to balance her precarious trust with Cobra against the need to find and pass on information.

In fact, she did get the opportunity to send off a quick message to Duke when the others left for the night. She disconnected the computer in the same way that the technician had done before, gave Duke the update, along with a warning about the planned attack on the lab and on him, and put everything back the way it should be in under five minutes. Then she left for the evening, wishing she could find a faster way to complete her mission.

Unfortunately no opportunity had presented itself by the end of the first week, and the days continued to pass in a hurried monotony, each one making her more frustrated and nervous. Whatever they had planned for Duke was supposed to happen at the same time as the attack on the military installation. That was less than a day away, now, and she watched the preparations with mounting dread.

Bludd left with the majority of the troops in the morning. She had absolutely refused to go along, and he didn't try to press her on the issue. And although the attack left the base nearly deserted, Zartan shadowed her the entire day, making his distrust obvious. She acted the good little Cobra soldier and didn't even step into the computer room all day. She hated to waste the time, but his presence made any covert work impossible.

As Lady Jaye had hoped, the Cobras were defeated. She sighed in relief when the troops returned to the small base and Major Bludd filled her in on the details. He told her that a team of Joes had already been at the base and that back up had arrived quickly. Fortunately her ruse had seemed to work; he thought that their numerous attempts on similar facilities had simply made the team take blanket precautionary measures. She did her best to advise him on alternate modes of attack based on the Joe personnel who had been present, making sure to leave a few flaws in her analysis. He seemed intrigued anyway, nodding at her assessment of the Joe strategy and the methods they used in defense.

"That's something I didn't think about," he told her when she was finished. "Tomorrow Zartan goes back to his normal training routine, and you will begin to advise our section leaders in strategy. I'll give you a list of things they might find important. I'm sure you're very familiar with the leadership styles of the various Joes, and you can tell us how they would react in given situations."

She agreed, knowing that it would be easy enough to lead them in the wrong direction as far as that was concerned. But she had other things on her mind. "So… the deal with Duke. Wasn't that today? I'd like to know what's going on. I've been patient so far. But it's time for you to hold up your end of the bargain."

He nodded, still thinking about who would need to attend the strategy session the next day. "We've taken the first step," he told her. "The information was passed on to our contact today. In a few days he will use it to get to Duke, and you will have gotten your revenge."

Lady Jaye's mind reeled. It was something they hadn't considered. The traitor must be handing off information during battles against Cobra. It would certainly be easy enough in the chaos during a fight for a hand-off to go unnoticed. In almost every battle, the fighting ended up in close quarters; nearly every Joe came in contact with several Cobra troopers in the course of a fight. It made perfect sense. She had to find a way to tell Duke. Close inspection of the battle rosters should show an obvious pattern once they looked for it.

She snapped her attention back to the present. "Sorry, just picturing the scenario," she told Bludd. "Care to give me any details to add to the daydream?"

He gave her an evil smile. "Only that it will be very slow and very painful. Don't worry, you'll hear all about it in due time."


	9. Tactics

Unfortunately Lady Jaye had no opportunity over the next three days to get word out to Duke. Her new duties as strategy advisor kept her on her toes, as she had to remember the details of each of the made up personalities she'd given the various Joe commanders. It was a challenge, but a welcome change from dealing with the physical side of training. It was fun in a way, too—inventing strange motives for each of her COs was vastly more entertaining than watching the Cobra troops try to compete at hand-to-hand combat.

When she wasn't involved in briefings, her knowledge of the Joe team was being picked apart by the technicians responsible for keeping the Cobra information network up to date. In between those duties, she was now responsible for a new batch of recruits who had just arrived on the base. They were hopelessly clueless, but as neither Bludd nor Zartan wanted to deal with them, the responsibility was given to her. She mostly ignored them, only making sure that they wouldn't accidentally kill themselves at the weapons range before leaving them on their own to attend yet another meeting.

One of the senior officers leaned forward in his chair. "You were saying that Duke doesn't care about the particulars of the team members' specialties?"

She brought her mind back to the present. "That's right. He's likely to have our underwater demolitions expert go along on desert reconnaissance, or one of the tank crew pilot a Skystriker." Although this was occasionally true, Duke knew exactly what each team member was capable of. It was one of the things that made him a fantastic leader. He knew when to push one of the Joes into an area in which he or she might excel, and many of them had gone through training in subjects that were nowhere near their specialties, always with positive results.

One of the other men present stage-whispered to a neighbor, "Sounds a lot like the Commander. That wumpus had me in charge of a Fang squadron one battle, and I'd never even flown in one before. Not even as a passenger." The two men chuckled, and Bludd did nothing to correct them on their disrespectful behavior.

The meeting finally ended, and she trudged back to her room. The entire situation was so depressing she felt like doing nothing but going to sleep early, putting off the following day as long as possible. She had to meet with the techs again, though—she couldn't continue to be obstinate about giving them information if she wanted any in return. Not that she had gotten any. She felt like she was hitting her head against a brick wall.

It didn't become an issue that night, though. Cobra had yet another attack planned; apparently whatever information they had gotten from their contact was good enough to get them moving again. She merely observed as they went through the files, reading about yet another research facility located in a remote corner of the United States.

Apparently the men were working in shifts that night, for as soon as she thought that they were done for the evening, another group filed in. She swore softly. She wouldn't have an opportunity to use the computers any time soon.

_There must be some way_… she thought. She glanced up at the monitors showing the security camera activity, and an idea slowly began to form.

She gave her good-nights and left, walking toward her quarters but ducking down a side hall when she was sure no one else was near. Zartan's office was separate from the others as it was attached to his lab. She had yet to get into that room, but while the security on the lab's door was significant, that on the office next door was not. She also knew from her hours in the computer room that there were no cameras in the private offices of Bludd or Zartan.

The area appeared to be deserted. Zartan usually finished early, she knew, having seen the lights on in his quarters when she passed by in the evenings.

It wasn't much work to pick the lock on the door and get in. She made sure the door was closed again and left the lights off. It took a few moments to get into his computer system, but she made few guesses at his password, and upon entering "everglades" was into the system. _Not very imaginative_, she thought.

She divided her attention between scanning the contents of various files and listening for any sound beyond the door. If she was found out now, the game was over for sure.

Zartan had the expected common files on his computer: troop deployment, active member locations, and possible target coordinates. There wasn't much there that her own team's intelligence operatives didn't already know, but she filed away some of the new information for later reference.

There was a shortcut to a program on the desktop that she didn't recognize. She opened it, and sat staring for a moment, confused. The screen was covered in a spiral of colors, looking like one of the Chaos Mathematics posters popular in dorm rooms. She clicked on a section of the picture, and the screen changed to a series of chemical diagrams and numbers. Something from a long-ago biology class stirred in the back of her mind. It looked familiar, but she couldn't place the sequence of diagrams.

Lady Jaye didn't want to spend too much time in Zartan's office, so she closed down the program and checked to see that the computer was disconnected from the network. Bludd had told her that their private computers were completely isolated, but it would be a stupid mistake to believe everything the man said.

The short message to Duke took only a few moments, and she shut the computer down. She listened at the door; all was silent. She made it back to her room without being seen and dressed for bed, picturing the data she'd seen over again so that she would remember it all in more detail later.

The strange diagrams kept flashing before her closed eyes. Why had she thought about biology? What could the data mean in reference to living systems? She began to drift off, remembering the hours she had spent in molecular biology, ecology, and genetics classes during college. _Living systems_… she mused. _It looked a little like the population dynamics between predators and prey, but Cobra would hardly study that. _She wracked her brain, trying to think. She sat up and let out a sharp breath as it came to her. It wasn't populations of animals the diagrams represented, but something smaller. Viruses.

It made sense that Zartan was working with the sample he had stolen over a month ago from a military lab, but so much time had passed that Duke and Hawk had assumed that Cobra's research had been fruitless. Apparently not. If Zartan had managed to stabilize the sample, he could easily have a new weapon on hand. She remembered what the head scientist at the lab had told Duke. That the sample was an experimental strain similar to smallpox but without that virus' ability to move from person to person by itself. It had to be injected to be effective. They had been developing strains like that one to prepare for the possibility that a terrorist group might get a hold of the real smallpox virus and unleash it on the population at large. Because there were very limited samples of smallpox left in the world, the scientists had developed a non-communicable replica for use in their experiments.

Lady Jaye's stomach fluttered as she realized why Cobra had needed the code to the infirmary. Would the traitor only infect Duke with the virus, or the whole team? Surely it would be impossible to contaminate the entire supply of vaccinations the Joes received every few months, which was the only way she could think of to administer an injection of the virus. Surely the false codes would ensure that the traitor was caught before he could do any damage. But despite repeating the reassurances to herself over and over again, Lady Jaye found it impossible to sleep.

The arrival of the Dreadnoks the next day did nothing to improve her mood. She ran into Ripper and Torch in the cafeteria, and they nearly jumped out of their skins when they recognized her. Fortunately Zartan and Buzzer arrived before the two men could decide what to do about the apparent Joe in the base. They were incredulous at her presence, asking Zartan over and over again if he was sure it was okay that she was there. He rolled his eyes but told them that Major Bludd was in charge of her, and that so far she seemed to be genuine. Lady Jaye noticed the look he gave her, though. He didn't trust her, not by a long shot.

The day got worse and worse. The Crimson Twins showed up after lunch, sitting in on her daily strategy sessions with the Cobra officers. They made no comments about her information. She supposed that as they were more involved in the financial side of Cobra, they probably knew less than the others about the members of the Joe team. As much as the day's arrivals made her head ache, she knew she couldn't have pulled off the mission if Destro or the Baroness were present. She applauded her luck and hoped that it would hold out.

Unfortunately, she was invited to dinner by Tomax and Xamot. She had no excuse to decline except that she had no clothing other than the Cobra uniform she had been given. They were prepared for that, though. Xamot smiled and handed over a pile of newly-purchased clothing. She sighed and left to change in her room.

They had bought her black slacks and a simple but silky blue shirt. Putting on the clothes was an unnerving experience. She didn't know if it disturbed her more that they had included underwear or that they had gotten the bra size right. _Gross_, she thought. _There goes my appetite._

The three of them went to a small but elegant restaurant in the nearby town. The twins were well-known patrons, apparently. She supposed they must spend enough time at the Vegas Extensive Enterprises office to come here fairly often. They were seated at a nice table close to the fireplace and away from the other guests.

Tomax studied the wine menu. "Would you care for a glass, or are you strictly a whisky drinker?" he asked her.

She frowned at him, but answered, "Wine will do. Whisky is only for when I'm pissed off."

Lady Jaye did her best to give short answers to their questions, and they backed off from asking her about her life as a Joe when it became obvious she wasn't interested in the subject. Instead they spoke of her time at the Cobra base. They were amused at her description of the fight with Zartan, and gave her a few pointers about his fighting style that would give her an advantage the next time.

She knew there was a reason they had brought her out tonight, but the twins didn't seem to be in a hurry to broach the subject. They were into the second bottle of wine—she'd wisely limited her own intake—and had ordered dessert when they finally got around to giving her their proposition.

"This last week has been a test of sorts, as I'm sure you've been aware," Tomax started.

"Your performance has been splendid, and we think that it's time for you to move to a more permanent position in the Cobra hierarchy," Xamot finished.

She raised her eyebrows in question.

"We have larger bases elsewhere, and, of course, Cobra Island itself," Tomax continued. "Your intelligence would be put to better use at one of those places."

"What do you think?" Xamot asked her. "It would give you a chance to work more… intimately with the more important members of Cobra." Lady Jaye got the feeling they were implying themselves. That thought went beyond disturbing.

"Look, I said at the start that I would only stick around long enough to see Duke taken out of the picture. As much as that desire burns, I still consider Cobra to be the wrong side," she replied. "And quite frankly, I don't buy into your propaganda. I've been helping out the last week in the hopes of seeing some of the Joes taken down a notch, but that doesn't mean I want Cobra Commander as some sort of world dictator. That would be worse than the arrogant SOBs who are in charge right now."

"You seem to overestimate the amount of negative change Cobra would bring to the world," Xamot said. "While we are not the most staunch supporters of the Commander's paradigm, the man does have a valid and workable plan in mind."

Tomax continued, "The only ones who would suffer would be the power-hungry men who hold the financial strings wrapped around every person in the world. You can't tell me that the United States has been overly kind and beneficent to the poor masses in underdeveloped countries."

"Free market is a joke," Xamot added. "Europe and the US control the world, allowing the elite to use up all of the resources while the rest of the world is just a dumping ground for their waste and a source of raw materials and labor for the luxuries they love."

She shook her head. "I might have bought that line at sixteen," she said, "But Cobra simply wants to shift the money and power to themselves. I've seen what Cobra is willing to do to the 'poor masses' to attain their end. If anything, the elite would simply become an even smaller and greedier group. Cobra Commander doesn't strike me as the altruistic type."

The twins looked at each other and shrugged. "It was worth a shot," they said in unison.

"So you thought that taking me out of the base away from the common soldiers to wine and dine me at an expensive restaurant would somehow imply that if Cobra took over the world we'd live in a happy utopia where everyone was equal?" she quipped.

They laughed at that. "Well, we admit that the Commander's overall plan may not quite involve the redistribution of wealth, but it sounds good in the pamphlets," Tomax said.

"So perhaps we're working the wrong angle?" Xamot asked. "How about the thought that if you help Cobra to win, you will be one of the elite who will decide how the world is run? Does that interest you?"

She finished the wine in her glass before answering. "Quite frankly, no. If I wanted to be influential I would have gone into politics."

"What, as a senator's wife?" Tomax snorted.

Lady Jaye bristled. "Don't even start on that tactic. Cobra's principles as far as women are concerned make the Middle East look like Denmark. I wouldn't be surprised if the Commander has a captive breeding program in mind as part of his 'overall plan.' God knows the man hates women."

Tomax shrugged. "He had a bad experience."

"So he decided to take over the world? Are you serious? This all started over a woman?" She fought back a laugh. It wasn't really funny. It made her wonder what Flint was doing right now, and that thought sobered her completely.

"He doesn't talk about it much," Xamot told her.

They rose to leave, and Xamot came up behind her, placing a hand on her shoulder. He leaned forward and murmured, "I'm sure we could at least provide you with accommodations that are more…pleasant…than those at the base."

Lady Jaye tried not to shudder. "Sorry, that tactic won't work either—equality for the masses, remember?" she told him, ignoring the implied suggestion. Thinking about THAT was worse than any pair she or Cover Girl had come up with while playing Death Is Not an Option. Worse, she suspected that it wouldn't exactly be a choice between the two of them… _Stop thinking about it_, she told herself. _Think happy thoughts instead…_ Dinner churned uncomfortably in her stomach.

She stepped forward out of his reach. "I have to be at a meeting in seven hours," she told them. "I'm sure Major Bludd would disapprove if I'm not back on base soon."

She swore she heard Xamot sigh quietly, but they drove her back with no further protest. Lady Jaye climbed into bed in her quarters wondering if the come-on was just another recruitment tactic, or something more. She dismissed it from her mind and tried to think of a way to contact Duke again. For the third night in a row, sleep eluded her.


	10. Ruse

Lady Jaye avoided the Dreadnoks as much as she could over the next two days, but they were fascinated by her presence, and continuously dogged her everywhere, asking her questions about the Joe team. They didn't ask very intelligent questions of course—they seemed to want to know about things like Scarlett's favorite soda (grape), Cover Girl's underwear color (she wouldn't tell them), and her own music preferences (anything not country). It wore on her nerves, and she actually found herself grateful to escape into the meetings she hated so much.

She decided it was time to get to a computer again. She desperately needed to inform Duke about the virus. The next Cobra attack was planned for that night, and she hoped that the base would empty out enough to give her the chance.

Lady Jaye made it through the day and watched as the Cobra soldiers gathered in the hangar near their vehicles. She wished them ill-luck. It was frustrating to receive no news from the Joe base. Duke could be infected already and she wouldn't know. They could have even caught the traitor by now and her continued presence here would be pointless. She considered going along with them this time, if only to catch a glance of Duke, to make sure that he was okay and maybe even get close enough to pass on a message. She had assumed she would hear about it from Cobra if the traitor were caught, but she wondered now if she was wrong. Surely he had been captured by now. Maybe Cobra just wasn't aware yet. If they hadn't had a chance to contact him lately...

No. She wouldn't go. It would be disastrous to be caught by one of her teammates without having completed her mission. She still had no hard evidence of the traitor's identity. She had to get on a computer tonight. Unfortunately, with everyone off base, she was not allowed into the computer room. Only when she had assigned work was she allowed to sit at one of the terminalss. Even staying late the other night she had been taking a risk with the cameras recording everything. It would have to be Zartan's office again.

Bludd left with the Cobra troops, and Zartan and the Dreaknoks had been left in charge. Which meant that the Dreadnoks were drunk out of their minds before the others had been gone more than an hour. Some time around midnight, they started to pass out or simply fall asleep on the ratty furniture in the Cobra rec room.

Zartan, however, refused to leave his office, making that option impossible. She knew there had to be a way. She checked on him one last time before going to his quarters instead. She dug through his clothing and weapons, then turned to his desk drawers. She rummaged through the contents, which mostly consisted of masks, for some reason. Lady Jaye wondered why Zartan would need to use masks for disguises, but then she realized that the faces were all very familiar. Each of the Cobra high command was represented here, including Zartan himself. They must be for others to use alongside him.

She smiled. _This might be easy after all_, she thought. She grabbed the Zartan mask and quietly left the room. She made one last circuit of the hallways and rooms before heading to the main computer room. This had to be done carefully. She paused outside the door. There was a tall filing cabinet near the entrance on the inside, she knew. If she did this right, she would get the information she needed and have a valid reason to leave the Cobra base.

She donned the mask and took a deep breath. She pictured the cameras in the room. She could do it. She took a step inside, looking around carefully, making sure the camera had time to swing over her. It would only catch the top half of her mask; the filing cabinet blocked her from the mouth down. Perfect. She took a few more steps, and as soon as the camera swung away, she tore off the mask and walked to the nearest computer, completely exposed now as herself.

This was the first opportunity she'd had to explore the Cobra's computer network, and she went at it with gusto. She figured she had several hours before the Dreadnoks awoke, and even then, they would probably think she had gone to bed. She had to cross her fingers that Zartan would have no reason to come here when he was finished in his office.

She managed to copy most of the more important files onto disk. It took several minutes to copy each folder, and there were almost thirty that she thought would be useful.

While the disk drive hummed away, she searched the archived emails but found nothing of interest. Finally she had copied everything she could. Lady Jaye took one last look around the room. A cache of floppy disks caught her attention. The traitor had most likely handed over his information on disk.

She began to go through them one by one. Among the games and other programs were files that had obviously been taken from government networks. Paydirt. She read through the files avidly, noting that the information contained within directly matched the pattern of attacks over the last several months.

She despaired, however, of finding any clues to the traitor's identity. Then she came upon a record that made her gasp out loud. She read through it twice to make sure, then downloaded the file to another disk. She knew who it was now. Not who she had expected, but then, she hadn't truly believed it would turn out to be someone on the team until she read that page. She sighed. _Why did you do it?_ She asked him silently. _What could_ _possibly have convinced you to turn on your friends like this?_

She rose and returned everything to the way it had been earlier. She unobtrusively grabbed the mask on the way out, and dumped it down the garbage chute near the cafetieria. With a heavy heart, she made it to her quarters, hid the disks, and went to bed. The sheer relief of finally finding the answer allowed her to drift off almost immediately.

Bludd and the others returned late the next day, at about the same time that the Dreadnoks finally stirred from their drunken slumbers. She waited anxiously for the report from Bludd.

He was smiling. That was a bad sign. "Well, my dear, you'll be happy to hear we were successful today," he told her.

She tried to summon a return smile. "Oh? So what happened?"

His grin turned distinctly evil-looking. "The Joes had us on the ropes, and just when we were thinking about ordering a retreat, Duke collapsed right in the middle of the field. The Joes were too busy dealing with the emergency to care that we waltzed in and out of the facility with the information we needed."

Her stomach sank. "Collapsed? Is that all I get? You still haven't told me what you did to him."

"And I'm not going to tell you now, either. Just be sure that we've kept our end of the bargain," he replied.

"Any interesting battle stories other than that?" she asked.

He waved a hand dismissively. "No, none of the Joes were injured, more's the pity. But it's obvious that the plan for Duke is in effect. By this time next week, your commanding officer will be buried in Arlington."

She smiled widely, feeling like Bludd could read the fear in her eyes. But he only started to laugh, walking away to check in with Zartan.

Lady Jaye continued to go through the motions of her tasks, her mind working furiously. There had to be a way to defeat the virus. She could only think of one place where she could look. Zartan's lab. But how could she get in?

She finally decided brute force might be her only option. She bided her time, hoping for an opportunity. Unfortunately Major Bludd called for her an hour after his chat with her.

The computer room was fairly crowded, she noticed when she walked in. She felt a little nervous, knowing what she was likely there for. When she saw Zartan leaning against the wall in the corner, she knew for sure. Both of them could only be there for one reason.

Bludd turned to her, arms crossed. Lady Jaye kept her expression even. "Do you need something?" she asked him.

"What were you doing in the computer room last night?" he demanded.

She raised her eyebrows. "Excuse me? I never came here last night."

Bludd motioned to one of the technicians. He brought up a scene from one of the cameras, a still shot showing her sitting at a terminal.

Her mouth dropped open. "what-" she spluttered. She shook her head. "Check the dates. That couldn't have been last night."

The technician glanced up. "It is. I'm sure." He looked uncomfortable. She had gotten to know the techs fairly well, and sometimes they acted almost human.

"Bullshit," she argued. "Someone is setting me up." She glared pointedly at Zartan.

Bludd considered her for a moment. "Too bad this didn't work out," he began, stepping toward her.

"Sir, wait a moment," the tech said. He had rewound the tape until the camera showed an empty room, and was playing it back again. The camera revolved slowly toward the door, and there was Zartan, looking around the room. The camera moved away, and when it swung back, it showed Lady Jaye sitting at the terminal.

Zartan straightened and strode toward the technician. "That's not me!"

Lady Jaye scowled at him. Bludd looked from one to the other, thinking. "Zartan, do you have an explanation for this?"

"No! That's not me!"

"Well, it's not me either," Lady Jaye growled.

Zartan swung around to face her, raising his arm threateningly. She clenched her fists, prepared to defend herself if need be. Bludd stepped between the two of them and shoved them apart. "Stop it," he commanded. He turned to Zartan. "Last time I checked, Lady Jaye wasn't capable of making herself look like anyone she likes. You, however…"

Bludd shoved Zartan against the wall. "I'm sick of your constant attempts at taking over this base. I am in charge, and I make the decisions. You have been trying to undermine me since the first day the Commander set us up here together. Now, get out of here and find something constructive to do!"

The look Zartan gave her on the way out made Lady Jaye swallow. Her ruse had worked, but now she needed to be on her guard against the other man. _At least Bludd bought it_, she thought to herself. _Now for part two._

She turned to Bludd and said, "Well, I think he's made it pretty clear he doesn't want me around. I said I'd stay until Duke was taken care of." She gave him a wry smile. "I appreciate the news of his demise, by the way, but it's time I go. I'll be leaving tomorrow."

Bludd narrowed his eyes at her. "I could force you to stay."

She met his gaze and held it. "You could," she nodded. "But see how long you could hold me."

"And if I searched your quarters tonight, I wouldn't find any computer disks?"

Lady Jaye rolled her eyes. "Come on. You saw that tape. How would I pull that off? Besides, I have no interest whatsoever now in G.I. Joe or Cobra. I'm out of the whole thing."

He stared at her a moment. "And where will you go? You can't go home without being caught and thrown in prison. Is that what you want to do with your life? Throw it away?"

She paused as if considering his argument. Then she shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I don't think I could find a life here, either."

He shrugged. "Fine. We'll talk again tomorrow before you go. I'll give you contact information in case you change your mind."

It bothered her that most of the Cobras she'd met so far had seemed genuinely interested in her fate. Bludd was almost being nice. She would much rather go on hating them, and reminded herself of what this man was capable of. She gave him a nod and left. Bludd stared after her, fingers tapping against the table top.


	11. The Second FaceOff

Lady Jaye returned to her quarters long enough to give everyone a chance to clear out of the rooms and hallways and go to bed. She did not plan on giving Major Bludd the opportunity to 'talk' to her before she left. She was fairly certain he would not let her go.

After an hour, she got the computer disks from their hiding place and tucked them in her back pocket. There was nothing else in the room that she needed. She left, heading toward the halls where Zartan's lab waited for her. Getting in was going to be tricky, as she did not have a passcard to open the door. She thought a moment, then picked the lock again on his office door and went in. A brief search turned up the card she needed. It figured that Zartan was too lazy to keep it with him all the time, and it was a lucky break for her that he chose to leave it here.

The lab was dark, the only illumination coming from banks of small fluorescent lights set up along the counter at the back. Several rows of vials and tubes sat under the lights, along with temperature and humidity gauges. She glanced over the labels. They were well-marked, which surprised her. Zartan was at least professional in some respects.

The third short row of sealed vials had yellow labels instead of red ones. There were fewer of these, and most of them were marked with a date and a brief description of test results. She passed up a few labeled "failed" until she found two that had more positive results written out. One read "Anti-V2 serum, vaccine" and the other read "Anti-V2 serum, treatment." V2. That was the name that Bludd had mentioned in conjunction with Duke. She took both of the vials from their holders and tucked them carefully in her shirt pocket, buttoning it to make them more secure. Smallpox had an incubation period of one to two weeks; Duke was obviously starting to feel the symptoms, but if he'd broken out in a rash already she was sure he wouldn't have been the battle. That left at least three days to get him the vaccine. Once the rash appeared, the disease would be too far along for the vaccine to be effective. Supposedly there was no effective treatment after that but to keep the fever down and hope for the best… except that Zartan appeared to have developed a treatment as well as a vaccine for this strain. All the better—if it worked, that is.

She turned to leave, but on impulse, switched off the lights above the counter. Hopefully the virus samples would die out if Zartan didn't notice soon enough. She didn't dare destroy the vials, much as she wanted to. For all she knew, he had developed an easily communicable version of the virus in the last week. Exposing herself would be a bad idea.

She had almost made it to the Base's garage when Zartan stepped out of the shadows and blocked her way. "I thought you might come down here tonight," he said. "I must congratulate you on almost getting away with it. The mask was a nice touch."

Lady Jaye backed into a defensive crouch. He came at her, and she sidestepped the punch, throwing one of her own at his unprotected side. He drew in a sharp breath, but brought his elbow down at her head; she barely got an arm up in time, but the blow still hurt. She remembered what the twins had told her, and backed away a few paces, refusing to allow him to close in on her. He was not just a brawler, but a wrestler, preferring strangle holds and throws to all-out punching.

She kicked out and landed another blow, keeping far enough back that he couldn't easily reach her. Eventually, however, her movement was stopped short as she backed into the garage door. He smiled and moved in. She reached behind her for the door knob, turning it just as he sprang. She ducked, but his forward momentum knocked her back and she lost her balance.

Zartan grabbed her arm, fist connecting with her kidneys as he pulled her back to her feet. She had no room to maneuver, trying desperately to land left-handed blows anywhere that might do damage. He just threw out his fist again, hitting her hard on the face. She managed to turn her head and the blow landed on her cheekbone instead of her nose.

She heard him laugh. "I knew you were no match for me," he growled with a short jab that connected solidly with her mouth.

Tomax and Xamot had given her one more tip, however. Apparently Zartan had injured his knee some time ago, and it still gave him trouble on occasion. As he hit her again, she managed to bring her boot up between them at knee height. She quickly pushed her leg outward, feeling his joint bend and give way. Zartan cursed and fell. She jerked her arm out of his grasp and turned to run. He lunged upwards with his good leg and caught her around the calves, tackling her.

Lady Jaye twisted as she fell, aware of the precious vials in the front of her shirt. She landed hard on her left shoulder, and searing pain flew through her arm and collarbone. She kicked out, the bottom of her boot making solid contact with Zartan's face. His head snapped back, and she brought her other foot around to the side of his head. He stayed on the ground, unmoving.

She wearily climbed to her feet and checked the vials. Unbroken. She tried moving her left arm, but the throb in her shoulder made it nearly impossible. She'd worry about that later.

The vehicles in the garage were mostly Cobra jeeps, tanks, and larger machines. She noticed a line of motorcycles toward the back, shiny and well-kept. The Dreadnoks' bikes. She chose the one that looked to be the fastest and wheeled it one-armed toward the door, leaning it against her leg to hold it up as she went. She made it outside and started up the bike. It was horrendously loud; she was sure they could hear it inside.

_No time to waste,_ she told herself. As usual the gate wasn't guarded. It was supposed to be a secret base, after all, and none of the Cobra command was likely to show up in the middle of the night for a security inspection. That and the laziness of the Cobra soldiers meant no one was there to challenge her.

Before long she was gunning along the highway, heading north. She would have to stop at some point to obtain another vehicle. She didn't trust the Dreadnoks not to have tracking devices installed on their bikes, and she planned on heading back to the Pit as soon as possible. Her own car back in Vegas had probably long since been impounded.

The ride was actually uneventful. She was sure someone had noticed her departure by now, but enough time had passed that they would be far behind if they followed at all. It was somewhat difficult to steer one-handed, but the bike was big enough that balance wasn't much of an issue.

She reached a smallish town by mid-morning, and looked for the most run-down car dealership she could find. The salesman looked at her strangely when she pulled up, and she realized that not only was she still wearing her Cobra uniform, but she was bruised, dirty, and tired.

She smiled anyway and cheerfully asked if he was willing to trade in the bike for something else.

He eyed the vehicle appreciatively. It was worth more than any of the cars on the lot, but her appearance made him think the police might be interested in the bike, too. "And why would you want to trade this beauty for one of my junkers?" he asked.

Her smile turned rueful. "Boyfriend and I had a fight. We both own the bike, but after last night… well, I'm never gonna see him again, and I sure as Hell ain't lettin' him keep it."

The man eyed her bruises and nodded. "Well, I suppose I could help a woman in distress. Don't suppose that boyfriend of yours will come looking to get the bike back?"

She laughed. "He's stranded in Vegas now that he lost all our money at the casinos. He don't know where I've gone, and even if he did, there'd be no way to get here."

He stared at the Cobra emblem on the front of her shirt. "And that?"

She thought quickly. "Hey, job's a job. Made a little money working for a coupla weeks in the desert, then took our paychecks and tried our luck at the tables. Pays better than waitressing." She scowled. "Karl thought the uniforms would get us special treatment at the casinos, what with Extensive Enterprises right there. Boy was he wrong."

The salesman shrugged. He didn't really care who his customers were, so long as he got a good deal. And she had obviously seen some rough treatment lately. He felt a pang of pity for her. "Tell you what," he said. "Take your pick of any of these cars and I'll even give you a little cash on top. You seem like you could use a good meal and you'll need gas to get wherever you're going."

This time her smile was genuine. "I thought honest car dealers were a myth," she said.

He smiled back. "Oh, I'm not gonna lose money on it, believe me," he told her. "That's a nice bike."

She looked around at the limited selection, spying a green Dodge Dart in the corner of the lot. She pointed and asked, "That Dodge run good?"

"Sure does. Check the oil when you get gas, though—it tends to go through it kinda fast."

They completed the transaction and shook hands. She thanked him for his help and for the three hundred dollars he'd thrown in. She continued her journey feeling lighter than she had in days, despite the aches she was feeling all over. Her shoulder seemed to be a little better, but she still couldn't move it much.

Lady Jaye drove until dinner time, and stopped for food and to plan. She finally decided to sleep for a few hours before completing her drive. Getting into the Pit in the middle of the day would be difficult; she needed the advantages that night afforded her.

She bought some Tylenol and a t-shirt to sleep in at a drugstore, found a motel, and crashed on the small bed. She was so tired that even her shoulder and the upcoming tasks couldn't keep her awake. The worst part was over.


	12. Confrontation

The Pit was dark when Lady Jaye arrived in the middle of the night. Other than the minimal exterior lighting, throwing shadows against the walls of the few aboveground outbuildings, the base looked deserted. A gnawing fear coursed through her as she scanned for signs of life. A small form detached itself from the darkness and trotted along the fence. She recognized Junkyard immediately, which gave her a bit of relief. If he was out and about, things couldn't be too far off from normal.

She left the car outside the fence and walked to the gate. No one was inside, so she ducked around the barrier and headed toward a smaller side entrance. Junkyard came over to greet her, recognizing her scent and voice. "Hey, boy," she murmured, stroking his back. "Where is everyone else?" Mutt didn't seem to be nearby, so she continued to the door, stopping in front of the keypad. She doubted that her own code would work now, and the only other option was to use the false alarm code. It would work, after all, even if it would notify whichever CO was on duty that a Joe who knew that particular code was coming inside. She hoped that if it wasn't Duke, they would at least report to him—he would know immediately that it must be her.

The door clicked open when she entered the code. She made her way through the halls; it was late enough that no one seemed to be up. She decided to head toward Duke's quarters; it was the most likely place at this hour to find him… unless he was in the infirmary.

She avoided passing by the rec room just in case a late night poker game was on, and made her way quietly to his room. Someone must be looking for her by now, but she didn't see anyone along the way. She knocked softly, listening for sounds on the other side of the door. Nothing. She risked knocking a little louder, but no one answered.

_Ok, he might be in his office,_ she thought. _Of course, that means that I have to get close to whoever is on duty tonight._ Lady Jaye headed there anyway, keeping to the lesser-used corridors. Duke's office was dark and empty. That meant he was in the infirmary, after all. She took a deep breath to prepare herself for what she might find there.

Turning from the door, she took a few steps but stopped abruptly when she saw a figure leaning against the wall a few feet ahead of her. Flint stood with his arms crossed, a dark scowl on his face. He stood straight and stepped toward her, reaching out to grab her arm. She winced as her injured shoulder screamed in protest.

Flint's voice was a low menacing growl. "What are you doing here?"

She tried to back out of his grasp, but his fingers were digging into the muscle. "I'm looking for Duke." Her voice wobbled as she spoke. She didn't know what to tell him. Until she talked to Duke, she was still under orders to remain silent about her mission.

He clenched his teeth and hissed, "Why? Come to finish the job?"

Her eyes widened as he confirmed the worst of her fears. "What-"

Flint didn't give her the chance to finish. He twisted her arm around her back and shoved her roughly against the wall. The pain in her arm made her dizzy, but she managed to twist slightly to protect the samples in her pocket. She gasped out, "Flint, stop it! You'll break the vials…"

He leaned into the pin, making her gasp in pain. His voice sounded low next to her ear. "So you came to finish the rest of us, too? How could you-" his voice broke.

"No! Flint, I'm trying to help…"

He was past listening to her. He growled, "I cared about you, damn it! Didn't that mean anything to you? You threw it all away—your career, you life, me…"

"No," she whimpered. "I wasn't trying to hurt you. Please, I need to find Duke."

Her knees almost buckled when he put his full weight against her. She could feel his arms trembling with suppressed rage, and his voice reflected it, too. "Why? Alison, I told you I would be there for you. Why did you turn to them?"

"Dash—you're hurting me," she gasped. She clenched her eyes against the pain and rested her bruised cheek against the cool concrete of the wall. He released her arm, swinging her around by the same shoulder to face him. Lady Jaye cried out and fell to her knees, cradling her injured shoulder. She looked up at him through tears of pain and anguish.

He stood rigidly, staring down at her. He looked terrible; his face was unshaven and his eyes were dark and wild. She felt a pang of real fear. She was completely vulnerable. No matter what he did, she wouldn't be able to bring herself to move against him.

Flint stood still for several seconds. Finally he spat, "I see your new friends didn't treat you very well. Did they get tired of you so quickly? Or did they send you here like this to put our guard down? If you think I'll take pity on you because you're injured, you're wrong."

She hung her head, unwilling to witness the pain in his eyes any longer. "I came here on my own," she whispered. "Do what you have to. But please let me see Duke first. Or Hawk, if he's here."

"Hawk's in Washington. He left four days ago. In fact, he's sitting in on the hearing for your court martial."

Her stomach sank. She had hoped it wouldn't move so fast. At least Hawk would delay the proceedings as long as he could, giving them time to complete the mission and allow the full details to come to light. At least she hoped he could. "Then I need to see Duke," she repeated.

"Why?"

"Just let me see him, and I can explain what's been going on—"

His eyes narrowed. "It's going to be hard to talk to him when he's delirious with fever," he replied, voice cold. "He's also in quarantine. No one's allowed in."

Lady Jaye's eyes flew open wide. "What! No! It should have taken at least two more days!"

"So you knew about this." He leaned over her. "I didn't want to believe it," he whispered. "But it's true." He shook his head, a sad and tired look coming over his features. He grabbed her good arm this time and pulled her to her feet. "I'm taking you to the brig." He started to reach for a pair of handcuffs slung over his belt.

"Flint! Listen to me! If I can't see Duke, I need to get to Lifeline! I have the treatment for the virus!"

He whipped his head up and examined her warily. "Why should I believe that?" he demanded.

"It's true," she said quietly. "Here…" She reached for her front pocket, but was unable to move her left arm high enough to reach it. She gave him a pleading look, and he released her other arm, taking a step back and placing a hand on the holster at his hip.

She froze. "You don't think I would try to hurt you…" she whispered. He didn't answer. She unbuttoned the flap on her shirt and removed the vials. She handed them over and reached down for the disks in her pants pocket. He jerked at the movement and drew his gun. "Don't," he said, bringing the barrel up.

Eyes locked on his, she said, "I have data here that you will want to see. I'm only getting the disks out of my pocket." Her voice was calm, but a cold tingle ran through her limbs. _Oh, Dash_, she thought. _I'm so sorry…_

He nodded, but kept the gun trained on her. She lowered her gaze and took out the disks, holding them up for him to take. Flint put the vials in his own pocket, then took the disks and put them there as well. He slowly holstered his gun and reached for the handcuffs again. His face was completely expressionless as he brought her arms around behind her back to cuff them together. She drew in her breath sharply as the pain hit her yet again, but it was nothing, she knew, compared to the pain he was in.

Taking the comm. link from his belt, he contacted Breaker, who was on night duty. "Flint here. I've apprehended Lady Jaye and am taking her to a holding cell. Have Law meet us there, please."

Lady Jaye walked ahead of him down the hallways, heading toward the small bank of cells in a remote corner of the base. It was easiest to get there by taking a shortcut to the gym, but as she stepped into the large space she realized they should have taken the longer way around.

Scarlett and Snake Eyes were sitting cross-legged on one of the mats, eyes closed. They both looked up at the sound of footsteps, and sprang to their feet when they recognized the pair. Scarlett strode forward to meet them, demanding, "What is she doing here?"

"I caught her outside of Duke's office. I'm taking her to the brig." His voice sounded flat.

Scarlett glared at Lady Jaye. "You traitor!" she yelled. "Was it you this whole time? How far back does it go? Months? Years? How dare you come back here with Duke lying upstairs in the infirmary!" She brought her arm back to strike, but Snake Eye's hand shot out and caught her wrist. He shook his head at her, and her arm dropped back to her side. She sagged against him, whispering, "I thought this team meant something to you. How could you…"

Lady Jaye stood silent, unable to answer. Flint pushed her forward, and she continued walking, hearing Scarlett let out a strangled sob behind her. _Duke must be worse than I thought if she's that upset. Please, let him be all right,_ she prayed silently. _Let Zartan's treatment work…_She felt the time running out with every step she took.

They finally reached the brig. Law and order were waiting outside. Law took his keys and unlocked each set of doors down the hallway, and opened a cell door at the end. Flint walked her into the small room and took the handcuffs from her wrists. He met her eyes one last time, but didn't speak to her. Instead he turned to Law and said, "I'm going to set up a guard duty roster later, but for now, you stay here. I don't want her left alone."

Law glanced at Lady Jaye and nodded. The two men left the cell and closed the door. Lady Jaye lay down on the small cot and tried to get comfortable_. I've done everything I can,_ she told herself. _Now it's up to Lifeline. And Flint._ She hoped the Warrant Officer read over the disks before her presence here became well-known. If the traitor found out she had returned, he might figure out the ruse and bolt. She prayed that Flint would understand the implications of the file she had found. If not, this could all have been for nothing…


	13. Capture

Lady Jaye tried to sleep, but despite her exhaustion, she simply lay staring at the ceiling. Some time later, she sat up at the sound of a key turning in the lock on the door. The light from the hallway outlined two forms standing side by side.

"Well, my dear—nice to see you again."

She jumped to her feet. "Tomax and Xamot! How did you—"

Tomax gestured at her outfit. "The uniform, of course. Neither Bludd nor Zartan were aware that we planted a tracking device on it the night you arrived, before it was given to you." They took a step into the cell.

Backing away, she asked, "What do you want? She glanced at the doorway. "Did you hurt anyone coming down here?"

Xamot laughed. "We didn't leave any corpses lying around…but we didn't come here to attack the Joes."

"We came here for you." Tomax elaborated.

She looked from one to the other, panicked. "So you're going to kill me?"

They shook their heads. "Why would we do that? We want you to join us for good," Xamot told her. He stepped forward and reached for her hand.

She shuddered at the touch. "Not a chance," she told them. "I'd rather you killed me."

Tomax smiled. "And what about your friends? Would you rather we killed them?"

"What do you mean?" she demanded.

"Zartan perfected another strain of the virus. Extremely contagious." He pulled a roll of thick cloth from his coat. "This contains enough vials of it to infect everyone on the base," he told her. "By the time they figure out that it's a different strain, it will be too late."

Lady Jaye felt numb. "No… you wouldn't…"

Xamot leaned in close. "Oh, but we would." His lips brushed her ear. "Unless you come with us." His voice lowered. "We have…plans…for you."

She shivered. Could she trust them? She could always escape later, but in the meantime…

"Work with us," Tomax whispered, grabbing her other hand.

She closed her eyes. "Yes," she answered.

Lady Jaye awoke with a gasp. She looked around the cell. It was empty. She ran a hand over the new shirt and pants she had bought before leaving town last night. She rested her head on her knees. _I guess everyone does have their own weakness,_ she mused. _Even me._

Lady Jaye lifted her head up as the door opened for real this time. She shook her head to clear it. _I'm not dreaming now,_ she told herself. She looked up only to see the traitor framed by the doorway, regarding her icily.

"You know, don't you?" he asked. "This was all a plan. When Scarlett told us you were back, I figured it out." He tossed the keyring idly in his hand. "Too bad you didn't have a chance to tell anyone." His voice had a hint of question in it.

She played on his uncertainty as best she could. "Flint knows. But he had to go to the infirmary first." She saw his eyes widen slightly. "You failed," she said. "I stole the vaccine from Zartan's lab before I left."

He laughed. "I doubt it would take Flint two hours to get to the infirmary. If he knew, he'd have come looking for me. Now all I have to do is make sure my secret is safe." He withdrew a gun and leveled it at her.

"Wait! At least tell me why." She could think of no other way to stall for time.

He considered her request. "Why not. I have plenty of time. Law thinks he's chasing Zartan through the hallways; he doesn't even know I'm here." He showed her the mask he carried in his other hand. It was an exact duplicate of the one she had worn while at the base. "This is even Zartan's gun. No one will be able to trace your death back to me. Looks like we both failed. Only I'm going to be around to try again."

With a wicked smile, he continued. "Don't you care that you've given most of your life to a cause that's futile?" he asked. "We've been fighting Cobra so long I started to wonder why we couldn't beat them for good. I did a little digging… and I found out that there are officials in Washington pulling our strings. They decide who's expendable, and have no guilt about watching their soldiers die. Our lives mean nothing to them. So I made a deal. Cobra gets information from me, and I get to see these men squirm when their plans fall apart. We've been working our way up to the top. Duke first, then Hawk, then the Jugglers. I want to see them fall."

Lady Jaye stepped forward, but he shook his head at her. "Don't try anything. I hope you die happy knowing that you've helped those rotten bastards in Washington…" He pulled the trigger as something hit him from behind. Lady Jaye fell across the cot as the bullet meant for her heart tore into her thigh instead. She watched as he picked himself up off the floor to face Flint. He had lost his gun, but turned to face the Warrant Officer, trying to salvage the situation.

"She's a traitor, Flint!" he shouted. "She deserves to die!"

Flint glanced over at Lady Jaye, eyeing her wound, then turned to the other man, regarding him coldly. "I read your record of communications with Cobra," he told him. "I'm sorry to do this." Flint took out the handcuffs again, stepping forward. "Ralph Pulaski, you are under arrest for treason and consorting with the enemy."

Steeler stepped back, hands raised. "What? You don't believe her, do you? She left us for Cobra," he protested.

Flint grabbed the other man's shoulder, but Steeler twisted out of his grip and ran for the door. He stopped dead at the sight of Order growling menacingly in the opening. Law followed behind, and Steeler gave up the fight. "This isn't over," he told Lady Jaye.

"No, it isn't," Flint answered. "You've got a long few weeks ahead of you. Lock him up, Law." The MP took him away, and Flint rushed to Lady Jaye's side, pulling off his shirt to stauch the bleeding. "You okay?" he asked.

Lady Jaye nodded, wincing as he applied pressure to her wound. "How's Duke?"

Flint shrugged. "Lifeline's checking out the vials you gave me. I didn't stick around; he said it might be a while." He finished tying the shirt around her leg and looked her in the eyes. "Glad I decided to check out those disks you gave me," he told her, voice unsteady. His expression was still guarded, but he no longer looked angry. "So, was this all a plan?"

She grimaced. "I'm under orders…" she started. "Oh, screw it. Yes, Flint. Duke and I planned this out almost six weeks ago when he and Hawk figured out there was a traitor on the team."

He stayed kneeling beside her for a moment. "Why you?" he asked softly.

She reached out and placed her hand on his. "Don't worry. Duke trusts you. But Hawk made him choose only one person. No one else was to know. I'll tell you more later, I promise. But I am still technically under orders."

He nodded and helped her to her feet. "Can you walk to the infirmary?"

She gave him a tired smile. "Can you carry me that far?"

"If I need to."

She leaned against him, enjoying the feel of him under the thin t-shirt. "I'll make it, I think. Lifeline's busy, anyway, and I'm not going to bleed to death in the meantime." She sighed. "I don't think I'm going to do much of anything for a while, in fact."

They headed out the door. "What happened to your arm, anyway?" He tried to keep his tone light, but she could tell he was thinking about their confrontation in the hallway. There was an edge to his voice that sounded suspiciously like guilt.

"I had a run-in with Zartan on the way out of the Cobra base," she answered. "I don't know what's wrong. Either my shoulder is dislocated or my collarbone is broken. I can't tell."

His response was quiet and strained. "I'm sorry… In the hallway… I didn't mean to hurt you…I was so angry--"

She had her good arm wrapped around his waist, and she gave him a quick squeeze. "It wasn't your fault. I'd have been just as mad if I thought you were a traitor." She looked up at him. "Dash… I'm sorry, too. I didn't mean to hurt you, either."

He nodded. "Let's not talk about it now. You're hurt, I haven't slept in almost five days…It can wait."

_It will have to wait_, she thought. _I'm in no condition for a heart-to-heart conversation._ She sighed. _If he can forgive me, this will have been worth it—even a bullet in the leg…But if I didn't move fast enough to save Duke…_She refused to finish the thought.

They made their way slowly toward the infirmary wing. It was getting to be morning, and the other Joes were starting to stir for the day. Flint flatly refused to answer any questions, leaving a collection of stunned and confused Joes in their wake. No one tried to stop them, though, which made Lady Jaye extremely grateful. She was ready to collapse, and couldn't even think about facing her teammates' queries and accusations right now. Most of them had no idea what had happened in the night, but the revelations would have to come later.

The infirmary was quiet, and Lady Jaye wasn't sure whether to be glad or worried. Flint sat her down on one of the examination tables and went to find Lifeline. They returned after a few minutes. Lifeline looked haggard and run-down. But he gave her a smile as he entered the room. "Lady Jaye, thank you. You saved Duke's life," he told her.

She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank God you were able to use the treatment." She returned the smile. "You look like you've been working hard."

He nodded as he untied Flint's shirt from her leg. "Duke was getting worse and worse, and there was nothing I could do for him. When he first came down with symptoms, I didn't know what to think. Then when he broke out in a rash two days ago, I knew it was smallpox, or something close enough. Fortunately the data from the military lab was still on hand, so I knew about the experimental virus. I wasn't worried that we would have an all-out epidemic. But the lab had no data past the vaccine, which is useless once the rash appears." He cut her pants leg open to expose the puckered flesh, and pulled at the bullet wound, making her wince. "I had nearly given up hope." Lifeline glanced up at her. "Then you came back…"

He reached behind him for a long pair of thin forceps. "I take it the rumors of your defection to Cobra were greatly exaggerated?"

She nodded and let out a sharp gasp as he reached into the hole in her leg and pulled out a flattened bullet. "Low caliber. You're lucky." He picked up a bottle of antiseptic. "This might sting a little…" he told her.

Lady Jaye swore as he poured it into the wound. "A little?" she gasped.

Lifeline applied dressing to the wound and bound the leg. "Sorry," he said. "I'm a little too tired to be delicate just now."

Flint spoke up from the chair where he was watching the proceedings. "Her shoulder is injured, too," he told Lifeline.

She described what happened, and he took X-rays, checking on the computer as the images came up on screen.

"Looks like you've separated your shoulder," he told her. "Doesn't look like it will need surgery, but it's going to take a few months to get back to normal." He went through the locked cabinets at the back of the room and handed her a bottle. "Take these as you need them, but no more often than every two hours. Try to sleep. I'm going to check on Duke again. I'll see you in the morning."

After he left, Flint helped Lady Jaye get into one of the beds and under the covers. He tucked her in, made sure she was comfortable, and left. She wished he had stayed, but she supposed it was still too soon to expect things to be back to normal. _Give him time_, she thought. _We have a lot of issues to work out…_ she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

A/N Sorry about the dream sequence-giggle- I couldn't help it. I needed a little more drama. 

Hope no one was too offended by my choice of traitor. Obviously this relates to "Worlds Without End." I always wondered what would have happened with Steeler if he had never gone to the alternate universe. I did pull a little comic book-ness into the story, too, with the Jugglers. Have to have a motive... Next chapter should finish it. Thanks for bearing with me so far-- and for the reviews. They keep me writing long past my bedtime!

Last note-- art imitates life. I separated my shoulder three weeks ago, which has given me ample opportunity to sit in front of the computer, unable to do much else other than type. Surgery in a few weeks and a THREE MONTH recovery should mean many, many more stories. Ah, Internet, what would I do without you...


	14. Conlcusion

It was late evening by the time Lady Jaye woke up again. She felt much better for the sleep, and snuggled under the covers, able to relax for the first time in weeks. She couldn't quite get comfortable again, though, and sighed, sitting up to reach for the painkillers and glass of water on the nightstand.

She lay back, wondering what was going on elsewhere in the base. She finally got tired of waiting, and carefully climbed out of bed. She was able to hobble to the door and peek her head into the hallway. Lifeline wasn't in his office, so she leaned against the wall and made her way to the next room.

Duke had been encased in a plastic curtain, but it was pulled back now, and he lay propped against the pillows, remote control in hand, idly flipping through channels on the TV mounted across from the bed. He looked up as she came in, smiling broadly.

Limping to the chair at his bedside, she took a seat and looked him over. He was still covered in raised bumps, and although his eyes were dark and sunken, they were clear and alert. "You look like shit," she said with a chuckle.

He laughed. "Glad to see you back, but I think you can stop with the insults now," he replied. "So… aren't we a pair?" He looked at her blood-soaked bandage, bruises, and worn appearance. "You okay?"

She nodded. "More or less. Heard you had a rough couple of days. When did you wake up?"

"About an hour ago." His voice sounded scratchy. "Lifeline checked me over and went to get dinner. He said he'd tell everyone that I was up, but no one has stopped by. He must not want me to have visitors yet."

"I'll try not to wear you out," she laughed. It felt good to know that it was all over. "Duke… did Lifeline tell you what happened?"

"No. He said he didn't know. I was starting to go crazy thinking I would have to wait to hear…" His face turned serious. "Jaye. Tell me. Who…?"

She sighed. "Steeler." A sad look passed over his face as she recounted her discovery on the Cobra computer and what Steeler had said when he confronted her in the cell.

"What a waste," he whispered. They sat quietly for a moment, thinking about their former teammate and what he had done. They talked about the team and what it meant to each of them, and how the others were going to take the news. It was a depressing subject.

"I can understand his frustration," Lady Jaye told him. "But to go so far… why didn't he realize that what he was doing was so much worse than anything the men he hated could do?"

"Some people just can't deal with it all," he replied. "The pressure, the constant battles. Seeing friends fall, and the helpless feeling that goes with it. Steeler was on the team for so long… I guess he finally reached his breaking point."

Lady Jaye thought about how she had felt when they kept running into dead ends, when she saw how Flint reacted when she and Duke were fighting. She remembered the dream she had had just before Steeler came into her cell. "It is hard sometimes, isn't it?" she asked quietly.

"Yeah. Some days it's all I can do just to get out of bed in the morning. But the alternative… I just can't picture doing anything but this. Still, sometimes I wish I didn't have to make the decisions, that I could just leave it up to someone else…"

Lady Jaye tried to lighten the mood, aware that he was likely to turn introspective, blaming himself for something over which he had no control. "How long are you stuck in here?" she asked him.

He rolled his eyes. "At least a week," he replied. "How 'bout you?"

She smiled. "Lifeline can try to keep me here, but I plan on busting out at the earliest opportunity."

He shook his head. "If you get out, take me with you, please." He looked over as a thought occurred to him. "Do the others still think you're a traitor?"

Her mouth opened in surprise. "Oh. Yeah, I guess they do," she said. "I kinda forgot about that part." She looked at the floor. "I, uh, may have let it slip to Flint earlier that I was acting under orders, though…"

"I think I can overlook that point. I'll have to give him the official word, of course, and make sure that he tells the rest of the team." He plucked at the blanket over his lap. "And how did that conversation go, anyway?"

Lady Jaye leaned back in the chair and let her head hang over the back. She closed her eyes. "Well, he almost shot me when he found me on base. But when he read the disks I brought, he figured it out prettly quickly. I think he's still pretty mad, though."

Duke reached out toward her. "If he gives you a hard time over this, I will kick his ass for you," he told her. "You saved my life. We all owe you for what you've done."

She sat up and leaned over to touch his outstretched fingers, taking his hand in hers. "Thanks. I think I just need to give him some time. I hope…" Duke watched her eyes turn inward, and glanced over her shoulder as his eyes caught a flash of movement in the doorway. He smiled.

"I'm sure Flint will forgive you," Duke said. "You acted under orders. I know you would have told him if you could, but Hawk's order was for absolute silence on this. You had no choice."

Lady Jaye nodded. "Yeah. I know I had to do it, but it doesn't change the fact that I hurt him."

The pain in her voice was evident. "You care about him. He knows that. He also knows how important this mission was." He squeezed her hand to get her attention. She met his gaze, and he continued, "Just tell him how you feel. You want this to work, don't you?"

"Of course I do! If he walked out on me, I wouldn't know what to do with myself. He means so much to me." She closed her eyes. "I love him, Duke. What if he can't forgive me? What then?" she whispered.

A low voice spoke from the doorway. "I would never walk out on you, Alison."

She whipped her head around. Flint stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame. She tried to stand, but he reached her before she could rise all the way from the chair. He wrapped his arms around her and supported her weight as she leaned against his shoulder.

"So you love me?" he whispered.

She felt her heart flutter. "Yes, Dash. I most certainly do." She felt a chuckle vibrate through his chest. "That's very good to hear," he said. His arms tightened around her, and she felt the last of the tension and worry drain away. Flint leaned down to kiss her gently. "I love you, Alison."

A silly grin came over her face. She reached up to kiss him back, and they stood that way for several moments, until Duke cleared his throat behind them. "By the way, Flint," he said as they stepped apart. "Lady Jaye isn't the traitor."

The Warrant Officer rolled his eyes in response. "Thanks for the update, oh All-Knowing CO."

Duke laughed. "Well, I did say I had to make it official." He turned his gaze to Lady Jaye. "I'll call Hawk first thing in the morning with an update. He'll be happy to tell the court martial committee they can stop the proceedings. Flint, please call a meeting ASAP and give everyone the whole story. I would do it, but…" he shrugged, gesturing at his surroundings with a wry grin.

Lady Jaye gave a dramatic sigh. "You were supposed to wait on me hand-and-foot when I got back to make up for all of those hours of punishment work. You're going to milk this just to get out of that, aren't you?"

A wicked smile crept over his face. "Well, since I'm in here, that duty falls to the next in command…" he raised his eyebrow at Flint. "I understand Lady Jaye isn't supposed to be out of bed. She'll probably need a lot of help the next few weeks, with both a bad arm and a bad leg. You're going to have to help her move around, get dressed, take a bath…" He chuckled. "Of course, if Lifeline lets me out of here soon enough, I guess I could manage. Or I could ask Beach Head—"

Flint carefully picked up Lady Jaye and headed toward the door. "I've got it covered, thanks," he said over his shoulder.

Lady Jaye laughed. "Wait. I need to ask…" she looked at Duke. "You knew Flint was standing in the doorway the whole time we were talking, didn't you?"

"Yep."

She gave him a smile. "Thanks," she called as Flint carried her from the room.


End file.
